I know that I’m cutting it a little fine (okay…very fine), but I didn’t want to let Easter go by without sharing a little sweet treat to mark the occasion! Luckily, this recipe is super quick and easy, so it makes for a great, last-minute bake.

Today’s recipe is a combination of two of my all-time favourite treats: Easter Nests & Mars Bar Rice Crispy Cakes. These are my… Mars Bar Rice Crispy Nests!

Imagine, if you will, a chocolate cereal nest, filled with Mini Eggs (as it should be), but, instead of straight chocolate, this mixture is made with caramel-y, nougat-y Mars Bars (and the nests are drizzled with extra melted chocolate, because it is Easter, after all). These Mars Bar Rice Crispy Nests are sweet and delicious: a super fun spin on an Easter classic.

Table of Contents

• Ingredients
• How to Make Mars Bar Rice Crispy Nests
• Tips & Tricks
• Recipe

Ingredients

To make these Mars Bar Rice Crispy Nests, you’ll need the following ingredients:

• Mars Bars

The star of the show! You’ll need 4 x 39.4g bars (which, handily enough, equates to 1 multipack of the bars).

• Butter

I use unsalted butter for this recipe.

• Golden syrup

Golden syrup is melted together with the Mars Bars and butter to make a deliciously sticky, caramel-y mixture that holds the rice crispies together. I’ve given the amount in grams here, because wrangling golden syrup out of a measuring spoon is one of my biggest pet peeves: I won’t be inflicting that on you here— you can weigh the syrup right into the saucepan!

• Rice Crispies

These go by so many names: rice crispies, rice bubbles, rice pops… the list goes on! Basically, if you’ve got puffed rice cereal, you’re good to go. Theoretically, you should be able to make these nests with other types of cereal (shredded wheat and cornflakes are common alternatives for standard chocolate nests), but I’ve only ever tried this particular recipe with rice crispies.

• Mini Eggs

Mini Eggs are a vital part of any Easter Nest (apart from, you know, actual nests). I’ve used three eggs per nest here, but you can do as many or as few as you like.

• Milk chocolate

I like to drizzle the nests with a little chocolate because a) it’s Easter, b) it helps to secure the Mini Eggs in place and c) chocolate goes SO WELL with Mars Bar Rice Crispy Cakes! I’ve used milk chocolate, but feel free to use whatever chocolate you like: for an even sweeter treat, try white chocolate, or, for a slightly more grown-up snack, use dark chocolate.

How to Make Mars Bar Rice Crispy Nests

These nests are SO easy to make! You basically just melt the Mars Bars, butter and golden syrup together, stir through the rice crispies, divide them between some fairy cake cases, add some Mini Eggs and drizzle the whole lot with chocolate. That’s it! They’re perfect for making with kids, because they don’t require any actual baking— just be careful with the warm Mars Bar mixture.

Start by lining a 12-cup fairy cake tin with paper liners and set it aside, ready for later.

Chop the Mars Bars into chunks, then dice the butter.

Put the Mars Bar chunks, diced butter and golden syrup into a medium saucepan and place over low heat.

Stir frequently while everything melts together. Eventually, you’ll end up with a smooth, thick and shiny mixture, like this.

Take the pan off the heat and immediately stir through the rice crispies.

The mixture will be quite stiff, so you’ll need to use a little bit of elbow grease for this! Work quickly, because the mixture will stiffen up even more as it starts to cool.

Still working quickly, use two dessertspoons to divide the rice crispy mixture between the 12 fairy cake cases (about a generously heaped dessertspoon’s worth of mixture per case).

Press 3 (or however many you fancy) Mini Eggs into the centre of each rice crispy heap, pushing them down a little to make sure they’re nicely stuck in and to help create that ‘nest’ shape. If your rice crispy mixture has cooled a bit by this point, the eggs might not stick firmly into it, but that’s okay: we’ll be adding melted chocolate next, which will help to keep them nice and secure!

The final step is to drizzle over some melted chocolate. I like to use a fork for this for ease (I think the tines help to get the drizzle effect!).

Drizzle the chocolate back and forth across each nest, then set them aside at room temperature to firm up for 1-2 hours before serving.

The finished nests can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week. I recommend storing them in their paper cases, because the Mars Bar mixture can make them a little sticky.

Tips & Tricks

This is a super simple recipe to make, but I do have a few tips & tricks, particularly for working with the Mars Bar mixture, that I wanted to share!

• Don’t skip the paper cases

The Mars Bar mixture is significantly stickier than the classic chocolate mixture and won’t firm up as much, so the paper cases are essential for this recipe!

• Be careful not to let the Mars Bar mixture overheat.

Mars Bars are chocolate-y, so the mixture will seize up and split if it’s overheated. Stick to a low heat, stir frequently and make sure to chop up both the Mars Bars and butter beforehand to ensure they melt evenly.

• Use a flat-edged, wooden spoon to mix the rice crispies into the Mars Bar mixture.

Once the Mars Bar mixture starts cooling down, it will become increasingly stiff and hard to work with. Because of this, you need to use a strong utensil to stir through the rice crispies (along with some good old fashioned elbow grease!). I like to use a wooden spoon with a flat edge, because it means I can really scrape down to the bottom of the pan and ensure everything is mixed perfectly.

• Work quickly

Because the Mars Bar mixture gets harder to work with as it cools, you need to start working quickly as soon as you take it off the heat. That includes when you’re mixing in the cereal, dividing it between the fairy cake cases and adding the Mini Eggs. One of the reasons this recipe is so good to make with children is that it means you have a second pair of hands— you can be dividing up the mixture while they press in the eggs!

Recipe

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Mars Bar Rice Crispy Nests

A fun twist on the classic chocolate rice crispy nests for Easter, these easy treats are made with a melted Mars Bar mixture and feature a melted chocolate drizzle.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine British

Keyword Chocolate, Easter, Mars Bars, Nests, no-bake, Rice crispies

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Set Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings 12 nests

Equipment

• 1 x 12-hole fairy cake tin, lined with paper cases.

Ingredients

• 4 x 39.4g Mars Bars, chopped.
• 40 g unsalted butter, diced.
• 25 g golden syrup
• 75 g rice crispies
• 36 Mini Eggs (approx. 120g).
• 40 g milk chocolate, melted.

Instructions

• Place the chopped Mars Bars, diced butter and golden syrup into a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir frequently until the butter and Mars Bars have melted completely and you have a smooth mixture.
• Remove the pan from the heat and immediately tip in the rice crispies. Working quickly, stir through the cereal until all of the rice crispies are completely coated in the Mars Bar mixture.
• Divide the mixture between 12 fairy cake cases (approx. 1 generously heaped dessertspoon per case).
• Press 3 Mini Eggs into the centre of each case, pushing them down to help form the rice crispy mixture into a 'nest' shape.
• Drizzle each nest with melted chocolate, then set aside at room temperature to firm up for an hour or two before serving.
• The Mars Bar Rice Crispy Nests can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week. I recommend storing them in their paper cases, because the Mars Bar mixture can be a little sticky.

I’ve already shared one recipe in this series: my Pink & Green Checkerboard Biscuits, inspired by Rosamund and Posy Li, two of the new characters in Season 4. Today’s recipe is inspired by their mother: Araminta Gun, the Evil Stepmother-esque antagonist of the season, played by Katie Leung (whom you might recognise as Cho Chang from the Harry Potter films!).

Table of Contents

• The Inspiration
• Equipment
• Ingredients
• How to Make Double Chocolate Espresso Millionaire’s Tartlets
  • Making the Chocolate Shortbread Dough
  • Pressing the Shortbread into the Tartlet Tins
  • Baking the Shortbread
  • Making the Espresso Caramel
  • Making the Ganache
    • Microwave Method
    • Hob Method
    • Serving Instructions
• Recipe

The Inspiration

Araminta Gun is the archetypal ‘Evil Stepmother’; she’s twice-widowed, always wearing black and positively brimming with nefarious schemes. When it came to creating a sweet treat inspired by her character, I immediately thought of some sort of double-chocolate tart (I mean, with that all-black wardrobe, it was kind of a must!): chocolate pastry and a dark, chocolate filling for a super moody, but still sophisticated and elegant treat. I actually received some tartlet tins (these ones, from Lakeland!), for my birthday last year, so I decided to make mini tarts instead of one big tart (one of the best decisions I could have made, as it turns out— more on that in a sec!). I also love making my Bridgerton-inspired recipes feel like they could fit right in at a fancy afternoon tea, so tartlets seemed like the perfect choice.

I absolutely could have made a simple, dark chocolate ganache tart with a chocolate pastry, but I wanted something a little bit more unusual for this recipe. I toyed with a couple of different ideas, but eventually settled on something that I was really excited about: a Millionaire’s Shortbread-inspired, espresso-flavoured tart. If you aren’t familiar with Millionaire’s Shortbread, it’s a super popular treat here in the UK: it’s typically served in bar form (like a brownie or slice) and features a layer of shortbread, a layer of condensed milk caramel and a layer of chocolate.

Money plays a key role in Araminta’s storyline, so the whole ‘millionaire’ vibe seemed like a perfect fit. She’s by no means a sweet character though and Millionaire’s Shortbread is (perhaps infamously) a very sweet dessert, so I wanted something that, along with the darker, double-chocolate element, would tone that sweetness down and speak more to the bitterness of her character: enter, the espresso. Chocolate and coffee is such a classic pairing (it even has a name: mocha!), so this flavour combination isn’t anything groundbreaking, but the tartlets still feel pretty unusual and exciting (while still being absolutely delicious and very palatable)!

While you would usually use pastry for a tartlet, I’ve opted to use a shortbread base here for a few reasons. Firstly, I wanted to stick as closely as possible to a typical Millionaire’s Shortbread. Secondly, the added sweetness of the shortbread compared to a pastry actually works really well in this recipe, because both the espresso and chocolate are, well, not so sweet. Thirdly (and finally), I actually have a bit of a mental block about pastry: I just haven’t been able to master it yet! This shortbread base is SO much easier to work with than a classic shortcrust pastry: it’s really great!

So, in summation: my Araminta Gun-inspired, Double Chocolate Espresso Millionaire’s Tartlets feature a chocolate shortbread crust, an espresso caramel filling and a shiny, dark chocolate ganache glaze. All of these elements come together to make the slightly more refined, much less sweet cousin of the Millionaire’s Shortbread and, I have to say, they might just be one of my favourite treats yet!

Equipment

As I mentioned, I used these tartlet tins from Lakeland for this recipe. They’re 10cm in diameter, 2cm deep, non-stick and have fluted edges and removable bases.

If you’re able, I really do recommend making this recipe in tartlet form: I’ve tried it in a couple of different formats (bars, bigger tarts etc.) and the ratio of the different layers is just perfect in the mini form! Plus, they slice so beautifully and look so pretty: I might just have to start developing even more tartlet recipes so we can all justify the presence of specialist tartlet tins in our kitchens…

Ingredients

To make these Double Chocolate Espresso Millionaire’s Tartlets, you will need:

• Caster sugar

I use golden caster sugar here, as I do for most of my bakes, because I think it adds a deeper flavour. If you only have white caster sugar though, that will work absolutely fine!

• Butter

I’m using salted butter here, because the salt really enhances the chocolate flavour and helps to temper the sweetness of the caramel. If you only have unsalted butter to hand, that’s absolutely fine— just add a pinch or two of fine sea salt to both the shortbread and the caramel.

• Plain flour

Don’t be tempted to use self-raising flour here, or your shortbread will puff up too much and you won’t be able to fit the fillings into the tartlet cases!

• Cocoa powder

Cocoa powder is what turns regular shortbread into chocolate shortbread. It is quite a drying ingredient though, so the amount of butter in the shortbread is increased slightly to ensure the dough comes together perfectly.

• Condensed milk

Ah, condensed milk: love of my life, bringer of joy. This is a key ingredient in any Millionaire’s Shortbread and this recipe is no different! It is the main ingredient in the caramel layer.

• Dark muscovado sugar

Typically, Millionaire’s Shortbread recipes use a more neutral sugar in the filling (think light brown soft sugar, light muscovado or even golden caster sugar), but I’ve used dark muscovado here to really enhance the bitter espresso flavour in the caramel and bring a little more depth and darkness to the dessert overall.

• Golden syrup

A small amount of golden syrup is also added to the caramel filling. I find that this helps to give the caramel a smoother, more velvet-y texture.

• Instant espresso powder

Instant espresso powder is the key to getting a really intense, espresso flavour without adding to much liquid to the caramel filling (and it’s readily available in most supermarkets). It is different to instant coffee granules: a bit richer and stronger, so do make sure you get the right product!

• Dark chocolate

Use a high-quality dark chocolate here for the best results— the flavour will really shine through in the finished dessert! You can go as dark as you fancy: I’ve used a 54% chocolate, because I really love the taste, but a 70% one would make for an even more sophisticated flavour.

• Double cream

We’ll melt the cream together with the chocolate to make a rich ganache. If you’re in the US, use heavy cream.

• Glucose syrup (optional)

To make sure the final layer of ganache stays really shiny, even after it’s been refrigerated, I like to add a very small amount of glucose syrup. I have this on hand for a bunch of other baking purposes, but it is a bit of a speciality ingredient. You can substitute golden syrup for the same effect, but I do find that it adds a slightly more intense sweetness to the ganache layer, so you might want to consider using a darker chocolate to balance it out!

• Sea salt

You’ll need to add a little salt to both the shortbread and the caramel if you’re using unsalted butter, just to help all of the other ingredients really shine. I also like to sprinkle the finished tarts with a little flaky sea salt: it’s a really simple decoration but it looks very elegant (and tastes delicious!). I’ve used Fleur de Sel on these tarts, which is extra delicious, but regular sea salt would also be great. Just be sure to sprinkle the salt on just before you serve the tarts, as it can dissolve slightly if it’s left in the fridge, which doesn’t look quite so pretty.

How to Make Double Chocolate Espresso Millionaire’s Tartlets

These tartlets look complicated, and there are a few different steps you need to work through, but each step is super straightforward! The shortbread crust is SO much easier to work with than a typical pastry (and it’s made entirely in the food processor!), the caramel layer is incredibly forgiving and the ganache is truly just a melt-everything-together situation. Take it step by step and you’ll be absolutely fine!

Making the Chocolate Shortbread Dough

To make the shortbread dough, put all of the dry ingredients (caster sugar, plain flour, and cocoa powder) into a food processor and pulse to combine them. I’m using a mini food processor here, because I was making a smaller batch, but I’d recommend using a standard-sized food processor for the full batch!

This ensures that the cocoa powder is well incorporated and your dough is evenly chocolatey!

Add the cold, diced butter to the dry ingredients.

Then pulse again until a chocolatey dough forms. That’s it!

A couple of tips at this point:

• Make sure your butter is cold and diced.

The cold butter helps to make the shortbread really short (hence the name!) and flaky. Dicing it beforehand means that it will combine more quickly with the rest of the ingredients.

• Don’t be tempted to add water.

Because the butter is cold, the dough will take a bit of pulsing/processing before it comes together. You might start thinking that it’s too dry to form a dough, but it’s not! You don’t need to add any extra liquid/butter, just keep processing it and the dough will form. Trust me!

Pressing the Shortbread into the Tartlet Tins

Unlike pastry, this shortbread can just be pressed into the tartlet tins. No rolling out, no flouring the work surface: just pressing in the dough with your fingers.

Start by lightly greasing each of the tartlet tins with butter. This will help you get the tarts out of the tins later on!

Bring the dough together with your hands, then divide it into 9 equal portions: 1 per tartlet tin. This way, you’ll know exactly how much dough each tartlet requires and you won’t have to worry about over-filling one and under-filling another.

Use your fingers to press one portion of the shortbread into one of the tartlet tins. Aim for an even layer of shortbread across the base and up the sides of the tin, leaving a small amount of overhang at the top edge. This doesn’t need to be perfect, as we’ll smooth everything out later, once the tarts come out of the oven.

Use a rolling pin to roll over the top of each tartlet tin. This will remove the excess shortbread dough and leave a super neat, flat edge on the tartlet shells.

The final step before the tartlet shells can be baked is to prick them all over with a fork. The shortbread will still puff up a little in the oven, but this allows the steam to escape and helps to minimise the puffing, so don’t skip it!

Once all of your tartlet shells are filled with shortbread and ready to go, collect all of the offcuts and bring them together with your hands. These offcuts can be formed into a few little chocolate biscuits, which can be baked alongside the tartlets as chef’s treats. Don’t be tempted to press the offcuts back into the tartlets— you want that extra space for the fillings!

Baking the Shortbread

Arrange the tartlets (and the extra biscuits!) on a baking tray, then bake them in the middle of the oven at 175°C (conventional, not fan) for 12-15 minutes, until the shortbread is puffed and the surface looks dry. If you’re still waiting for your oven to preheat, I’d recommend putting the tartlets into the fridge to keep them nice and cold until you can bake them.

At this point, the shortbread won’t resemble a tart shell. However, while it’s warm, it will be soft enough to manipulate, so you can use a metal dessertspoon/cup measure to gently press down on the base to flatten it back down and against the sides to sharpen them up and make it resemble a tart shell once more. This sounds fiddly, but it’s actually so quick and easy to do (and I would still take it over rolling out pastry!).

Repeat this for all of your tarts, so that you’re left with perfect little cocoa shortbread tartlet shells, ready to be filled! Set them aside to cool slightly while you make the espresso caramel filling.

Making the Espresso Caramel

I know, I know, the word ‘caramel’ can send even the most confident of bakers into a spiral, but I promise, this one’s easy! No sugar thermometers, no convoluted temperature tests, just everything in a pot and a bit of light stirring.

I like to use a saucepan with a pouring spout for this, because it makes it super easy to pour the hot caramel into the tartlet shells when it’s ready. If you have one, I’d definitely recommend it.

Place the butter, condensed milk, dark muscovado sugar and golden syrup into the saucepan and set it over a low heat.

Stir the mixture every now and then until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.

While this is happening, dissolve the instant espresso powder in a splash of hot water and set it aside, ready for later.

Once the mixture is smooth, turn the heat up slightly to medium-low and bring the mixture to a gentle boil. The mixture has a tendency to stick, so you need to stir more frequently at this stage to stop it from burning.

Allow the mixture to boil for a couple of minutes, until it’s nice and thick. I realise this is a little vague, but don’t stress about it: a minute or two of boiling and stirring and you’ll be absolutely fine!

Remove the pan from the heat and stir through the dissolved instant espresso powder until it is completely incorporated.

Adding the espresso at this stage ensures that the coffee doesn’t burn while the sugar boils, which would make everything a little too bitter (and much less tasty!).

With that, the caramel layer is ready! Pour it into the tartlet shells, filling each tartlet about 3/4 full (this is to leave space for the ganache layer later).

Set the tartlets aside at room temperature to cool completely (about 30 minutes to an hour) before making the ganache layer.

Making the Ganache

The final layer of the tarts is a simple, dark chocolate ganache, with the addition of a not-so-secret ingredient to make it extra shiny and help it slice really nicely when served. This ingredient is glucose syrup (also known as liquid glucose). If you can’t find glucose syrup, you can use golden syrup instead (though this has a slightly more intense, caramel-y sweetness, so I would recommend using a slightly darker chocolate to balance this out if you do).

You can make the ganache in the microwave or on the hob. I tend to use the microwave, because it’s so easy!

Microwave Method

Finely chop the dark chocolate, then put it into a microwaveable jug with the cream and the glucose syrup.

Heat this in the microwave on the lowest heat setting in 30 second bursts, stirring in between each burst, until the chocolate has melted and you have a smooth, shiny ganache.

Hob Method

Finely chop the dark chocolate and place it into a heatproof jug.

Place the cream and glucose syrup into a small saucepan, then set over a medium heat and bring to just below a simmer, stirring frequently to ensure that it does not catch.

Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate and leave to sit for a minute.

After a minute, stir the mixture until the chocolate has melted and you have a smooth, shiny ganache.

Whichever method you use, once the ganache is ready, pour it over the caramel layer on each of the tartlets, filling them right up to the top, so that the ganache is level with the top edge of the shortbread crust. Give the tarts a gentle shake from side to side to smooth out the ganache layer and ensure that it completely covers the caramel layer below.

Transfer the tartlets to the fridge and allow them to chill for at least 2 hours (though they can be stored in the fridge like this for 2-3 days: the espresso flavour will get even more intense the longer they chill!) before serving.

Serving Instructions

When you’re ready to serve the tarts, carefully remove them from their tins. I find the best way to do this is to gently pull the sides of the tin away from the shortbread all the way around to loosen it, then set the tin on a small jar/tin and press down gently on the top edge to release it, making sure to apply any pressure as evenly as possible around the circumference of the tin. Then, hold the tartlet upside down and use a small, sharp knife to pry the base of the tin off the bottom of the tartlet.

Just before serving, sprinkle the tartlets with a little flaky sea salt (I used Fleur de Sel, for extra fanciness!). You can either slice the tartlets into tiny slices (SO CUTE!) or you can serve them whole for extra decadence. If you are slicing them, I recommend using a small, sharp knife and wiping it off in between each cut so that you can see the pretty layers.

Don’t be tempted to sprinkle the tartlets with salt ahead of time, while they’re still in the fridge, because I find that the salt starts dissolving and looks a lot less pretty if you do this.

Recipe

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Double Chocolate Espresso Millionaire’s Tartlets

Inspired by the character of Araminta Gun in Bridgerton: Season 4, these tartlets feature a chocolate shortbread crust, an espresso caramel filling and a shiny, dark chocolate ganache layer, all topped off with a sprinkling of sea salt.

Course Dessert

Keyword Caramel, Chocolate, Espresso, Millionaire’s Shortbread

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Chill Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings 9 tartlets

Equipment

• 9 x 10cm diameter tartlet tins

Ingredients

For the chocolate shortbread:

• 75 g caster sugar
• 225 g plain flour
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 180 g salted butter, cold and diced, plus extra for greasing (see Note 1).

For the espresso caramel layer:

• 100 g salted butter (see Note 1).
• 1 x 397g can condensed milk
• 100 g dark muscovado sugar
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 1/2 tbsp instant espresso powder, dissolved in a splash of hot water.

For the ganache layer:

• 90 g dark chocolate, finely chopped (see Note 2).
• 180 ml double cream
• 1/2 tsp glucose syrup (see Note 3).

To finish:

• Flaky sea salt (I used Fleur de Sel, but any sea salt would work).

Instructions

Make the chocolate shortbread tartlet shells:

• Preheat the oven to 175°C (conventional oven, not fan). Grease 9 tartlet tins lightly with butter and set aside.
• Place all of the shortbread ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until a dough forms (this will take a bit of time— just keep processing and it will come together! Don't be tempted to add any water.).
• Tip the dough out onto a clean work surface and finish bringing it together with your hands. Divide the dough into 9 equal portions, one for each tartlet tin.
• Press a ball of dough into one of the tartlet tins, aiming to get an even layer of shortbread right across the bottom and up the sides of the tin. Leave a small amount of overhang at the top of the tin, then use a rolling pan to roll over the top of the tin to remove the extra dough and leave a super neat edge. The dough offcuts can be used to make a few little chocolate biscuits that can be baked alongside the tartlets.
• Prick the dough on the base of each tartlet all over with a fork, then bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until the surface looks dry (the shortbread will still puff up quite a bit, but that's okay— we'll fix it in the next step!).
• As soon as the tartlet shells come out of the oven, use a dessertspoon/metal cup measure to gently press the shortbread down on the base and around the sides. The shortbread will still be quite soft when it's warm, so you can easily reshape it to make the perfect little tart shells.
• Leave the tarts to one side to cool slightly while you make the caramel layer.

Make the espresso caramel layer:

• Place the butter, condensed milk, dark muscovado sugar and golden syrup into a saucepan (preferably one with a pouring spout, if you have one). Set over low heat and stir every now and then until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
• Turn the heat up slightly to medium-low and allow the mixture to boil, stirring frequently, for a couple of minutes, until thick.
• Remove the pan from the heat and stir through the dissolved instant espresso powder until completely incorporated.
• Pour the hot caramel into the tartlet shells, filling each tartlet about 3/4 full (you need to leave room for the ganache layer). Set the tartlets aside at room temperature to cool completely (about 30 minutes to 1 hour).

Make the ganache layer:

• Once the tartlets are completely cool, make the ganache layer. Place all of the ganache ingredients into a microwaveable jug and heat on the lowest setting in 30 second bursts, stirring in between each burst, until the chocolate has melted and you have a smooth, shiny ganache. If you don't have a microwave, bring the cream and glucose syrup to just below a simmer in a saucepan, then pour over the chopped chocolate, leave to stand for a minute, then stir until smooth.
• Pour the ganache onto the cooled tartlets, filling them right up to the top, so that the ganache sits level with the top of the shortbread crust. Give the tarts a gentle shake from side to side to make sure the ganache layer is smooth and completely covers the caramel layer below.
• Transfer the tarts to the fridge and chill for at least 2 hours before serving. The tarts can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days, so you can make them ahead of time (the espresso flavour will also get more intense as they chill).

To serve:

• Carefully remove the tartlets from their tins. Sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt and serve.

Notes

1. You can use unsalted butter instead: use the same amount but add a pinch or two of fine sea salt.
2. I used a 54% dark chocolate, which isn’t super dark, but works really well with the other flavours. If you want a slightly more bitter, intense flavour, use a darker chocolate (a 70% would work well!).
3. Adding a small amount of glucose syrup to the ganache makes it super shiny and helps it slice really nicely. Glucose syrup is a bit of a specialist ingredient though so, if you don’t have it to hand, you can use golden syrup instead. Golden syrup has a slightly more intense, caramel-y flavour and sweetness, so, if you do this, so you might want to consider using a darker chocolate to balance it out.

The first recipe in this series is for these Pink & Green Checkerboard Biscuits: my tribute to the Li Sisters, Rosamund and Posy, who made their debuts in Season 4.

Table of Contents

• The Inspiration
• Ingredients
• How to Make Pink & Green Checkerboard Biscuits
• Recipe

The Inspiration

Season 4 of Bridgerton is, at its heart, a Cinderella story. As part of that, it follows the oft-used approach of having one of ‘Cinderella’s’ stepsisters be, well, nicer than the other: in this case, Posy is an absolute sweetheart and Rosamund is… I guess, whatever the opposite of that is.

Do you guys remember that old nursery rhyme that says something about girls being made of “sugar, spice and everything nice”? These two characters really remind me of it: Rosamund feels very spice and Posy feels very sugar. The official Bridgerton Instagram account ALSO referenced sugar and spice with regard to these characters (you can see the post here!), which made me feel extremely validated, so I figured that the whole sugar & spice thing would be a great concept for this recipe.

Last Christmas, I made Swedish Schackrutor for the first time as part of my Baking Around the World series. These tiny shortbread biscuits have a 2×2 checkerboard pattern, made with a combination of vanilla and chocolate dough. I thought these checkerboard biscuits would be a perfect base for this recipe: two sisters, two completely difference personalities and two doughs, all coming together to make one (delicious) biscuit!

When it came to deciding on the flavours, I was partially influenced by the whole sugar-and-spice vibe, but also partly by colour. In much of the promotional media for Season 4, Rosamund and Posy are seen wearing pink and green floral-print dresses: both fabrics feature the same pattern, but the colours are inverted. This fit so well with the checkerboard biscuit idea, I just had to make these biscuits pink and green, which heavily inspired the resulting flavours. I also love that these biscuits feel super Bridgerton: they’re colourful and fun, but they’re also fancy and delicate.

I’m not opposed to using food colouring, but, if I can, I prefer to use more natural alternatives. These biscuits are food-colouring free, tinted pink and green by the freeze-dried strawberry powder and matcha powder, respectively. Strawberry and matcha not only fit the pink-and-green colour palette perfectly, but they’re also a really delicious pairing, as evidenced by the strawberry matcha lattes that went viral over the past year (or two years? Or five years? I’m not even sure…)! I really liked the idea of these biscuits referencing the time period in which Bridgerton: Season 4 was released, as well as being inspired by the Regency setting of the show, so I ran with the flavour combo.

I did, however, want to incorporate a spicy element into the biscuits, so I opted to pair the strawberry flavour with pink peppercorns. I’ve actually heard of people pairing strawberries with black pepper before, so I figured pink peppercorns weren’t too much of a stretch: they’re milder (though they still bring a little bit of warmth to the dough), with a slight citrus-y note, and fit the pink colour palette perfectly, so I figured they’d be a great option here!

Honestly, I’m not usually the biggest fan of matcha (sometimes I just find it a little too earthy?), but I had a matcha panna cotta once that I absolutely loved and I think the difference was the presence of vanilla in the recipe: it really brings out the sweetness of the matcha without overpowering its flavour. Therefore, I opted to include a small amount of vanilla bean paste in the matcha dough, to make it a little more sweet and a little more delicious (for me, at least!).

Ingredients

The basic biscuit dough is a simple shortbread, using the classic 1-2-3 ratio of caster sugar-butter-plain flour (the same base that I used for my Schackrutor recipe). I’ve used unsalted butter here, but you can use salted butter if you prefer.

This recipe doesn’t make a huge batch of biscuits (they’re pretty tiny!), but you can easily scale it up to make more if you want.

To flavour the doughs, I used the following 4 ingredients:

• Freeze dried strawberries

It turns out that freeze dried strawberries aren’t as readily available as freeze dried raspberries in the supermarkets near me (who knew?), so I purchased mine on Amazon. They’re a great way of getting loads of strawberry flavour into bakes, particularly ones like shortbread that can’t handle too much additional liquid.

I bought freeze dried strawberries slices and ground them into a fine powder myself, using a mortar and pestle. If you can find them in powder form, you can absolutely buy them like that instead.

• Pink peppercorns

Surprisingly, pink peppercorns are not related to the classic black peppercorns we know and love (I’m lying, black pepper and I do not see eye to eye). Pink peppercorns are actually a dried berry! However, because they have a pepper-y flavour, they’re often grouped together with the other peppers of the world. Along with their relatively mild, but still warming, pepperiness, they have an almost citrus-y flavour, which works really well with the fruitiness of the strawberries and the earthiness of the matcha powder.

You can of course leave the pink peppercorns out to make these into Strawberry Matcha biscuits. I’d probably still keep the vanilla in if you do this, just to really highlight the matcha flavour.

• Matcha powder

Make sure you get a high quality, pure matcha powder (not one of the flavoured alternatives) for this recipe. It can be quite expensive, but you don’t need much at all for this recipe.

• Vanilla bean paste

I like to use vanilla bean paste in these biscuits because it adds plenty of vanilla flavour without adding as much liquid as regular vanilla extract would (and without the faff of dealing with a vanilla bean). As I mentioned earlier, I find that adding vanilla to matcha desserts really brings out the sweetness of the matcha, so I definitely think it’s a worthwhile addition to this recipe!

How to Make Pink & Green Checkerboard Biscuits

Making the base dough for these checkerboard biscuits is super easy: you just put the ingredients (sugar, butter and flour) into a food processor (I use a mini one) and pulse/process until everything comes together. That’s it!

Things get a little more complex when it comes to flavouring and shaping the biscuits, but it’s still pretty straightforward once you know what you’re doing.

First things first, split the dough into two equal portions. I like to use a weighing scale for this to make sure that both halves of the dough are exactly the same size.

Add the matcha powder and the vanilla bean paste to one half of the dough. To the other half, add the freeze-dried strawberry powder and the ground pink peppercorns.

Working with one dough at a time, knead in the flavourings until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough and the colour is even.

Once you have both doughs ready to go, you need to split both of them up into smaller portions. Again, I like to use a weighing scale for this to ensure the portions are all the same. Start by dividing each ball of dough into 3 equal portions.

Then, divide 2 of each of those 3 portions in half again. You should be left with 1 large ball and 4 small balls of each dough flavour. The smaller balls will form the checkerboard body of the biscuits, while the larger ball will be rolled out and wrapped around the biscuits to form the border.

Use your hands and a bench scraper (or a clean, metal ruler: anything that will help you to really square off the edges of the dough) to shape each of the smaller balls into rectangular logs (you want the cross section of each log to be approximately 1 cm x 1 cm), making sure the logs are as equal as possible in length. You should end up with four green logs and four pink logs.

Carefully press each green log up against one of the pink logs, making sure they are stuck together, but being careful not to squish the dough out of shape too much.

Place one pair of logs on top of another pair of logs, positioning it so the top green section sits on top of the bottom pink section and vice versa. This creates the checkerboard pattern. Again, press them together, but try not to distort the shape too much. Repeat this process for the second pair of logs, so that you have two short cuboids featuring a 2×2 checkerboard pattern.

Now, it’s time to wrap the biscuits in their final dough layer! This gives the biscuits a really pretty border and makes them feel that little bit fancier (if you’d prefer to make the biscuits sans border, follow the instructions on my Swedish Schackrutor post instead— the dividing of the dough is a little less complicated if you do it that way too!).

Take one of the large dough balls and roll it out between two pieces of baking paper (you don’t want to use flour at this stage, because it will prevent the dough from sticking to the biscuit logs, so the baking paper is there to stop it from sticking to your work surface/rolling pin!). Aim for a rectangle the slightly wider than the length of one of your checkerboard logs, and long enough to wrap around the whole thing (approx. 8cm). Try to keep the thickness as even as possible, so that the border looks super neat.

Peel off the top layer of baking paper, then place one of the logs onto the dough, positioning it at one end.

Use a sharp knife to trim along the back of the log, as well as down both sides, flush with the edges of the log. This will make the final dough layer really neat.

Use the baking paper to help you roll the log down the length of the dough, wrapping it up in the dough as you go and pressing the edges gently to ensure the dough sticks to itself, until you’ve covered the whole thing like a little Battenberg. Trim off any excess dough at the end.

Repeat this process for the second log, using the other dough flavour (the final ball!) to cover it. Wrap both of the biscuit logs tightly in clingfilm, then place into the fridge to chill for 2 hours. This will firm the dough up, so that you can slice the logs without distorting your hard-earned checkerboard pattern.

There’s no need to throw away the dough offcuts— roll them all together and form them into a couple of round biscuits (top left in the photo above!). Aim to make these biscuits a similar size to the cross section of your biscuit logs (approx. 3-4cm in diameter). You can bake them alongside the ‘official’ biscuits as little chef’s treats later!

Once the logs have chilled, unwrap them and use a sharp knife to cut them into slices, approx. 5-7mm thick.

Space the biscuits out on a baking tray, lined with baking paper (they won’t spread too much, so just leave a little gap between them). Bake them at 180°C (conventional oven, not fan) for 6-8 minutes, until they’re just turning golden around the edges (this is usually easier to see in the strawberry-flavoured sections than the matcha ones!).

Allow the biscuits to cool on the tray for 5-10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before enjoying.

Leftover biscuits can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days before they start going a little soft.

Recipe

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Pink & Green Checkerboard Biscuits

Inspired by the Li Sisters in Bridgerton: Season 4, these shortbread biscuits are the perfect blend of sugar and spice. Two doughs, one flavoured with matcha and vanilla, the other with strawberry and pink peppercorns, come together to make a delicious, checkerboard-pattern treat

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword Matcha, Pink peppercorns, Shortbread, strawberry, Vanilla

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 8 minutes minutes

Chill Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours

Servings 16 biscuits

Ingredients

• 25 g caster sugar
• 50 g unsalted butter, diced and softened.
• 75 g plain flour
• 1/2 tbsp freeze dried strawberry powder (see Note 1).
• 1/2 tsp pink peppercorns, finely ground.
• 1/2 tsp matcha powder
• 1/8 tsp vanilla bean paste

Instructions

• Place the sugar, butter and flour into the bowl of a food processor (I use a mini one). Pulse/process until a dough forms.
• Use a weighing scale to divide the dough in half, then place each half into a separate bowl. Knead the freeze dried strawberry powder and ground pink peppercorns into one of the dough halves, then knead the matcha powder and vanilla bean paste into the other.
• Divide each ball of dough into 3 equal pieces. Then, divide 2 of the 3 balls in half, so that you are left with 1 large ball and 4 smaller, equal balls of each colour.
• Use your hands and a bench scraper (or a clean metal ruler/anything that can be used to square off the edges of the dough) to form each of the smaller balls into short, rectangular logs (the cross section should be about 1 cm x 1 cm) of the same length. You should end up with 4 green logs and 4 pink logs.
• Press one pink log alongside one green log. Make sure they are stuck together, but try not to distort the shape too much. Repeat this for the remaining logs.
• Press one pair of logs on top of another, positioning them so that the top green section sits on the bottom pink section and vice versa. Repeat this for the second pair of logs, so that you end up with two larger, rectangular logs with a 2×2 checkerboard pattern.
• Roll out one of the larger dough balls between two sheets of baking paper. Don't add any flour at this stage. Aim to roll the dough into a rough rectangle, slightly wider than the length of one log and a little over 8cm long, so that it can be used to wrap all the way around one of the logs.
• Peel off the top sheet of baking paper, then place one of the logs on top of the rolled out dough, at one end. Use a sharp knife to trim off the excess dough along the back of the log and down both sides, flush with the edges of the log.
• Using the baking paper to help you, roll the log down the length of the rolled out dough, pressing gently to help the dough stick to itself, until it is completely covered, like a Battenberg. Trim off any excess dough, then repeat the process for the second log with the final, large ball of dough (in the other colour).
• Any offcuts can be rolled together and pressed into little round biscuits to be baked alongside the checkerboard biscuits later.
• Wrap both biscuit logs tightly in clingfilm, then place them into the fridge to chill for 2 hours. This will firm them up, so that you can slice them without distorting the checkerboard pattern.
• After 2 hours, preheat the oven to 180°C (conventional oven, not fan). Slice each log into biscuits about 5-7mm thick, then space them out on a baking tray lined with baking paper. The biscuits won't spread very much, so you don't need to leave heaps of room between them.
• Bake the biscuits for 6-8 minutes, until just starting to turn golden around the edges. Allow them to cool on the tray for 5-10 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling before serving. The biscuits can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days before they start going a little soft.

Notes

1. If you buy the slices of freeze dried strawberries, this works out at approximately 2g (or 5ish slices). Grind the slices into a fine powder using either a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder. 

Every December, I try to come up with a new spin on a festive classic: the Yule Log. My first attempt was my Almond, Rosemary and White Chocolate Yule Log, which featured an almond sponge, filled with an amaretto cream filling, covered in a rosemary-infused white chocolate ganache and sprinkled with toasted almonds.

My second take was my Tirami-Yule Log, which was (you guessed it!) inspired by the flavours of a tiramisu. It was made up of a vanilla sponge, a coffee syrup (spiked with amaretto), mascarpone cream and grated dark chocolate.

This year, I took inspiration from our Christmas Day dessert from last year, which was the Spiced Clementine Cake from the Ginger Pig Christmas Cookbook. The cake is made with ground almonds and a small amount of cinnamon, allspice and cardamom are added to give it a little bit of festive flair. It’s topped with candied orange slices and served with crème fraîche.

Let me introduce you, then, to my Spiced Orange and Almond Yule Log!

Table of Contents

• Ingredients
• Making the Spiced Orange & Almond Sponge
• Making the Spiced Orange Syrup
• Making the Crème Fraîche Filling
• Assembling the Yule Log
• Decorating the Yule Log
• Recipe

Ingredients

To make this Spiced Orange and Almond Yule Log, you will need the following ingredients (it’s a bit of a long list, but stay with me!):

• Oranges

To make an orange cake, you need oranges! You’ll need orange zest for the cake and the crème fraîche filling, then you’ll need some freshly squeezed orange juice for the syrup. I recommend using unwaxed oranges for this recipe.

• Caster sugar

I’ve used golden caster sugar throughout this recipe, but you can use white sugar instead, if you prefer.

• Eggs

I always use large eggs for baking.

• Plain flour

Don’t be tempted to use self-raising flour here, or the cake will rise too much!

• Baking powder

A small amount of baking powder is added to the sponge to help it rise the perfect amount, so that it is light and fluffy, but still rollable.

• Ground cardamom

If you can find ready-ground cardamom, I recommend using that (just for ease). If you can’t find it (and it can be hard to source sometimes), you can use the whole pods: just grind the seeds in a mortar and pestle/spice grinder until you have a fine powder.

• Ground cinnamon

A classic festive spice, ground cinnamon is readily available in supermarkets.

• Ground allspice

The final of the three spices added to the cake batter, allspice adds a lovely, festive warmth.

• Ground almonds

Ground almonds add a sweet, nutty flavour to the cake, while also helping to make the sponge super flexible, so it’s easier to roll without getting cracks!

• Fine sea salt

As with most baked goods, a small amount of salt is added to the cake batter to enhance all of the other flavours.

• Almond extract

Just to amp up the almond flavour even more!

• Vanilla extract

You won’t taste the vanilla flavour (only a very small amount is added), but it helps to counteract any potential eggy-ness that can come with this type of foam-based cake.

• Cardamom pod

A whole cardamom pod is bashed and added to the orange syrup to infuse it with some extra festive spice. It’s best to use the whole spice here, rather than the ground stuff, because it keeps the syrup nice and clear.

• Cinnamon stick

Similarly to the cardamom pod, a small cinnamon stick is added to the orange syrup to add even more festive flavour, without affecting the appearance/texture of the syrup.

• Crème fraîche

Crème fraîche is a classic pairing with any orange and almond cake and it makes the perfect filling for this Yule Log: light and fresh, but still rich and delicious.

Making the Spiced Orange & Almond Sponge

The process for making this sponge is super similar to making the almond sponge from my Almond, Rosemary and White Chocolate Yule Log (just with some added orange and spice!).

The first step is to grease and line the tin. You’ll need a 23 x 33cm Swiss roll tin for this recipe. Use a small amount of sunflower (or other flavourless) oil to grease the tin, then line it with baking paper. Set this aside, then preheat the oven to 180°C (conventional oven, not fan-forced).

Now, it’s time to make the sponge batter. Place the sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, then zest the orange directly over the top, so that all of the essential oils fall down into the bowl and you get more flavour from the fruit.

Use your fingers or the back of a spoon to rub the zest into the sugar. This helps to make sure it is evenly distributed and releases even more of the essential oils, so you’ll get even more flavour!

Add the eggs to the orange-ified sugar, then, using the whisk attachment, whisk on high speed until the mixture has become pale, fluffy and tripled in volume.

You want it to be at the ‘ribbon stage’, where you can lift the whisk and draw a figure of eight with the ribbon that falls off it.

While the egg mixture is whisking, prepare the dry ingredients. Sift the flour, baking powder, spices and salt together into a separate bowl.

Then whisk in the ground almonds. Set the dry ingredients aside for now.

Once the egg mixture is ready, add both extracts (almond and vanilla) and whisk briefly to incorporate them.

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and sprinkle over the dry ingredients. Scattering the ingredients over the top, rather than dumping them all in in one spot, helps to distribute the weight a little more, so you are less likely to deflate all of the air you’ve just whipped into the eggs!

Using a balloon whisk or a large metal spoon, fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until no streaks of flour remain. I like to use a whisk for this, because I think it works better, but you can use either utensil. The aim is to retain as much air as possible at this stage.

Pour the sponge batter into the prepared tin and use an offset spatula to spread it out gently into an even layer.

Bake the cake in the middle of the preheated oven for 15-17 minutes, until it is risen, golden and just about firm to the touch.

While the cake is baking, spread a piece of baking paper onto a clean work surface. Make sure the baking paper is slightly larger than the size of your cake tin. Sprinkle 2 tbsp of caster sugar all over the baking paper (this will help prevent your sponge from sticking to the paper when you roll it up).

Once the cake has come out of the oven, leave it to cool in the tin for 1 minute, then flip it out onto the prepared, sugared baking paper.

Peel the baking paper layer off the bottom of the cake and discard it, then tightly roll up the sponge, along with the baking paper underneath, starting from one of the shorter ends. Doing this while the sponge is still warm means you’re less likely to get any cracks when you roll it back up later!

Set the cake roll aside to cool completely before filling it.

Making the Spiced Orange Syrup

To add even more flavour to the cake, we’ll be soaking it in a homemade, orange syrup.

To make the syrup, place the orange juice, caster sugar, one cardamom pod (give it a little bash with a rolling pin/the flat edge of a knife first, to help it release its flavour!) and one small cinnamon stick into a small saucepan.

Place the pan over a medium-low heat and swirl it gently every now and then, until the sugar dissolves. Leave the syrup over the heat to bubble away gently, until it has reduced by about 1/3 (about 3-5 minutes).

Remove the pan from the heat and strain the syrup through a heatproof sieve to remove the cardamom pod/cinnamon stick. Set the syrup aside while you make the filling.

Making the Crème Fraîche Filling

This filling is SO easy to make! All you need to do is place the crème fraîche into a bowl, along with the orange zest. Just like with the sponge, I like to zest the orange directly over the bowl so that all of the essential oils fall in and give the filling extra flavour.

Then, just stir everything together. That’s it!

Assembling the Yule Log

Once you have your rolled and cooled sponge, orange syrup and zesty crème fraîche ready to go, it’s time to assemble the Yule Log.

Carefully unroll your sponge cake, using the baking paper to help you if needed.

Use a pastry brush to brush the orange syrup all over the surface of the cake.

Then spread the crème fraîche filling right over the surface of the cake, directly on top of the syrup.

Now, it’s time to roll! The cake should want to roll back up, because it cooled in that position, so just go slowly and roll it back up around the filling, making sure the roll is quite tight, as this will give you the most defined swirl.

Once your cake is all rolled back up, breathe a sigh of relief! You’ve done the hard bit! Don’t worry too much if you get any cracks: it won’t affect the flavour in any way (and icing sugar can hide a multitude of sins!).

If you want to, use a dry pastry brush to gently brush off some of the excess caster sugar from the top and sides of the cake (though I don’t particularly mind the extra crunch!).

Transfer your cake to a serving plate, then it’s time to decorate it!

Decorating the Yule Log

I’ve kept the decoration really simple for this Yule Log: just a generous dusting of icing sugar all over and some homemade Candied Orange Peels placed on top, right down the centre.

I’ve just placed the orange peels on top, but do be aware that they are likely to fall off if you need to transport the cake anywhere! If you want to make the decoration more secure, you might want to make some extra crème fraîche filling and pipe it down the centre of the cake, then you can stick the orange peels to the icing so that they don’t move around.

However, you can decorate this cake in any way you would like! If you really want to impress, you might want to cut a small slice off each end of the cake, to reveal the beautiful swirl inside.

Alternatively, you could make extra crème fraîche filling and use it to ice the outside of the log as well as the inside to give the log a snowy effect.

Once decorated, serve your Yule Log immediately, or store it in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Recipe

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Spiced Orange and Almond Yule Log

A spiced orange and almond sponge, soaked with a spiced orange syrup, swirled with a zesty crème fraîche filling and topped with a dusting of icing sugar and some homemade candied orange peels.

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword almond, Orange, Spiced, yule log

Prep Time 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Equipment

• 23 x 33cm Swiss roll tin

Ingredients

For the spiced orange and almond sponge:

• Sunflower oil, for greasing (or other, flavourless oil).
• 80 g caster sugar, plus 2 tbsp for sprinkling.
• 1 orange, zest only.
• 4 eggs
• 50 g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1 pinch fine sea salt
• 50 g ground almonds
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 splash vanilla extract

For the spiced orange syrup:

• 1 orange, juice only.
• 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 cardamom pod, bashed.
• 1 small cinnamon stick.

For the crème fraîche filling:

• 300 ml crème fraîche
• 1 orange, zest only.

To decorate:

• Icing sugar, for dusting.
• Candied orange peels, (see Note 1).

Instructions

Make the spiced orange and almond sponge:

• Grease the Swiss roll tin lightly with oil and line with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C (conventional, not fan).
• Place the 80g of sugar and the orange zest into the bowl of a stand mixer. Rub the zest into the sugar using your fingers/the back of a spoon until evenly distributed.
• Add the eggs and whisk on high speed until pale, fluffy and tripled in volume (the 'ribbon stage').
• While the eggs are whisking, sift the flour, baking powder, spices and salt together into a separate bowl, then whisk in the ground almonds. Set aside.
• Once the egg mixture has tripled in volume, add the almond and vanilla extract and whisk again briefly to incorporate.
• Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the egg mixture, then use a balloon whisk or large metal spoon to fold them in, until no streaks of flour remain.
• Pour the sponge batter into the prepared tin and use an offset spatula to spread it out into an even layer. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-17 minutes, until risen, golden and just firm to the touch.
• While the cake is baking, cut a rectangle of baking paper slightly larger than the Swiss roll tin. Spread it out on a clean work surface, then sprinkle over the remaining 2 tbsp caster sugar.
• Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 1 minute, then flip it out onto the sugared baking paper. Peel the baking paper off the bottom of the cake, then carefully and tightly roll the warm cake up into a log. Leave the rolled cake at room temperature to cool completely.

Make the spiced orange syrup:

• Once the cake has cooled, make the orange syrup. Place all of the ingredients into a small saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Swirl gently as the sugar dissolves, then allow to bubble away until the syrup has reduced by about 1/3.
• Remove the syrup from the heat, then strain it through a heatproof sieve to remove the spices. Set aside while you make the filling.

Make the crème fraîche filling:

• Place the crème fraîche into a bowl, then add the orange zest. Stir until combined.

Assemble the Yule Log:

• Carefully unroll the cooled sponge. Use a pastry brush to brush the syrup all over the surface of the cake.
• Spread the crème fraîche filling over the cake, right on top of the syrup, then carefully roll the cake back up into the log shape. The tighter you are able to roll it, the more defined your swirl will be.
• Transfer the whole roll to a serving platter, then dust with icing sugar. Arrange the candied orange peels on top, right down the centre, then serve.
• The Yule Log is best eaten immediately, but can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Notes

1. You can find my recipe for Candied Orange Peels here.

When I was little, one of my most prized possessions was my Pick & Mix Sweet Shop. It had lollipop holders, trays for assorted sweets and even a little weighing scale in the centre: I loved it. Unfortunately, I never actually had enough sweets at any one time to fill my sweet shop, so it sat in my room, beloved, but rather depressingly low in stock.

Every Christmas, I make quite a few festive sweets and treats for my whole family to enjoy. It occurred to me recently, while preparing for the festive season, that I am a grown adult with free will, so I decided to pay tribute to my Pick & Mix Sweet Shop and make my own homemade, festive, sweet shop this year, filled with all of my family’s favourite treats (unfortunately, I cannot charge my family members for the sweets… it is Christmas after all… so take the term ‘shop’ with a pinch of salt!).

In today’s post, I’ll talk you through all of the equipment I used to set up this sweet shop and go through the 6 sweets that I made one-by-one, in case you too have an inner child with a sweet shop fixation that needs to be HEARD.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

Table of Contents

• What You Need
• The Sweets
  • Rocky Road Bark
  • Peppermint Bark
  • Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles
  • Toffee Popcorn
  • Pistachio Nougat
  • Christmas Market-Style Nuts
• Setting Up the Sweet Shop
• Final Thoughts

What You Need

There are only two things that are absolutely essential for making your own sweet shop: sweets (obviously!) and containers to keep the sweets in. However, if you want to go the extra mile, you can also use some fun, festive decorations and make a whole display out of it!

Most of the things I bought for this sweet shop were from Sostrene Grene, one of my favourite places to shop during the festive season. I’ve linked everything down below, but their stock does change up pretty frequently, so the specific items may not be available anymore. Hopefully, though, the links will give you an idea of what each product looks like, so you can find similar versions!

For my sweet shop, I used the following things:

• Sweets

I used homemade sweets for my shop, but you could also absolutely buy your favourite treats and decant them into pretty jars to make it easier (but just as fun and special!).

• Jars

You’ll need one jar/container per sweet. I tried to source a variety of different shapes and sizes: I already had the two square jars and I bought the others from Sostrene Grene (links below).

Large jar with wooden lid.

Small jar with wooden lid.

Large round jar.

Small round jar.

• Tongs

This was a.. slightly frivolous purchase and by no means necessary, but, when I was buying the jars from Sostrene Grene, I saw these gold tongs and I thought they’d be so cute (and useful!) for getting the treats out of the jars. They actually work really well for the job, so I think it paid off!

• Faux pine garland

This is a festive sweet shop after all, so I nestled the jars in amongst this faux pine garland.

• Christmas lights

You guessed it, these gold star fairy lights are also from Sostrene Grene! They’re wired, so I was able to coax them into the shape I wanted, weaving them around the jars with the garland.

• Knitted sweets

If you’ve been following along with Blogmas At Home this year, you might have seen that I made these knitted sweets earlier on this month and I thought they’d make perfect decorations for this sweet shop! I just dotted them around the place, nestling them within the pine garland.

• Gingerbread Christmas tree

I haven’t shared my gingerbread undertaking for this year yet (don’t worry, it’s coming soon!), so I guess this is a bit of a sneak peak, but I feel like this sprinkle-coated, gingerbread tree fits the whole fun, sweet shop-vibe perfectly, so of course it had to feature!

The Sweets

I made 6 different treats for my sweet shop: Rocky Road Bark, Peppermint Bark, Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles, Toffee Popcorn, Pistachio Nougat and Christmas Market-Style Nuts. Because all of these sweets have pretty long shelf lives, I was able to spread the candy-making process out over a week, so I didn’t get too tired out (or overwhelmed by sugar!).

All of the recipes for these treats are available here on the blog. I’ll link to each one below, so you can make them yourself, if you fancy!

Rocky Road Bark

This Rocky Road Bark was a new entry to our festive treat list last Christmas and is a favourite of my sister-in-law!

It’s made with a 50/50 blend of milk and dark chocolate, mixed with crumbled digestive biscuits and topped with a scattering of mini marshmallows and raisins.

Find my recipe for Rocky Road Bark here.

Peppermint Bark

Peppermint Bark is the OG Christmas sweet in our household: my mum received a homemade version as a gift from her friend many Christmases ago and we loved it so much that I had to recreate it immediately! We’ve been making it ever since. In fact, it’s actually the first recipe I ever shared here on the blog!

The bark is made up of a thin layer of milk chocolate topped with a thin layer of white chocolate, which is then sprinkled with crushed up candy canes.

Find my recipe for Peppermint Bark here.

Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles

A new addition to the festive spread this year: these Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles are the final, chocolate-y offering in my sweet shop and a special request from my brother.

The puddles come in two varieties: dark chocolate puddles, topped with a whole almond and whole dried cherry, and milk chocolate puddles, topped with flaked almonds and chopped dried cherries.

Find my recipe for Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles here.

Toffee Popcorn

Toffee Popcorn isn’t an inherently festive treat, but it’s so addictive that I like to reserve it for special occasions (like Christmas)! My dad is a huge toffee popcorn fan, so this one’s for him.

This year, I decided to pull out all of the stops and make my toffee popcorn with a special variety of popcorn kernel known as ‘mushroom popcorn’ (I bought the Joe & Seph’s kernels). Contrary to what the name might imply, this popcorn does not taste at all of mushrooms (thank goodness, because I’m not a fan!), it’s the shape of the popped corn that gives it its name, because the kernels pop up into big, fluffy balls (kind of like the cap of a mushroom)! It’s the type of popcorn typically used by cinemas, so it has a really nostalgic, special vibe that I thought would really add to the festive magic this year!

Find my recipe for Toffee Popcorn here.

Pistachio Nougat

Making nougat is a slightly more involved process than the other sweet treats on this list so, just like the toffee popcorn, I only make it for really special occasions. This Pistachio Nougat is a particular favourite of my mum’s!

Made with egg whites, honey and roasted pistachios, this nougat is a really fun and impressive treat to make this Christmas.

Find my recipe for Pistachio Nougat here.

Christmas Market-Style Nuts

It wouldn’t be December without my Christmas Market-Style Nuts: these are always my absolute favourite treat when I visit any Christmas Market, so learning how to make them at home was a game-changer.

This year, I’ve used a combination of pecans (my all-time favourite), hazelnuts and macadamia nuts. They’re coated in a salty, sugary, cinnamon mixture, then baked until deliciously crunchy.

Find my recipe for Christmas Market-Style Nuts here.

Setting Up the Sweet Shop

Once you have all of your sweets, jars and assorted decorations, you’re ready to set up your sweet shop! Obviously, you can do this however you want and make it as simple or as over-the-top as you want, but, if you’d prefer to relinquish the mental effort and just follow some instructions, here’s what I’d do…

Choose a space that’s both easily accessible (to humans, not to pets!) and out of the way of the typical Christmas hustle and bustle (you don’t want to be knocking over jars as you’re trying to roast a turkey!). A side table or countertop would work perfectly.

Fill each jar with a different sweet/treat. If you have too many sweets for your jars, you can always mix similar sweets together (I’ve done this here: I put the milk and dark chocolate puddles in the same jar!).

Set the jars out first. This allows you to get their positioning right without having to deal with all of the extra decorations. Place the larger jars at the back and the smaller jars towards the front, so that you can see them all from the front. If everything feels a little too on one level, consider placing some of the jars on upturned ramekins (or other assorted knick-knacks), to add a little more height and dimension!

Once you’re happy with the placement of the jars, it’s time to decorate! Here, I’ve used a pine garland, a string of wired fairy lights, some knitted sweets and a gingerbread Christmas tree, but you can obviously use anything you have/think would look good.

I’d recommend starting with the biggest (bushiest?) decoration first (here, that’s my pine garland), as this will give you a base to work with. I wrapped my garland around all of the jars, adjusting (and readjusting) it until I was happy with how it looked.

Next, I added the fairy lights. Adding some lighting helps to make the setup extra festive and cosy-looking. I’ve used these battery-operated gold star lights, which was great because it meant I didn’t have to worry about plugging anything in.

Finally, I added the smaller, individual decorations in amongst the garlands and jars. I placed the gingerbread tree to one side of the setup, then dotted the knitted sweets around the place, nestling them amongst the branches of the pine garland.

And then, you’re done! Turn the fairy lights on, grab some little bowls or paper bags and get the whole family to visit your festive sweet shop before settling down to watch a Christmas film.

Final Thoughts

I think this is such a special, over-the-top (in the best way), thing to do for your family/friends (and yourself!) this festive season. I’m all about making Christmas feel super magical and if putting my homemade treats into some fancy jars and spending a bit of time arranging them does that, then I’m all for it!

Having said that, this is obviously a very extra approach to the festive season and I am aware that not everybody has the time, energy or mental headspace to take on a project like this, particularly at this time of year! You can always take bits and pieces of this idea: make just one of my homemade sweet recipes, find a single, fancy jar in a charity shop and fill it with Quality Street or store-bought nuts, or even just bring some greenery in from the garden and weave a string of fairy lights through it to decorate your home. Christmas is always a bit stressful, but there’s no reason to make it more stressful: I go to such extremes because it brings me joy, not because it’s in any way necessary.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post: it’s a bit of a special one (it had to be, for the halfway point of Blogmas At Home 2025!), so I’m excited to see what you think. I really embraced my inner child (and my inherent lack of restraint) to make something that I think is really fun and I’m super proud of it!

Gemma

xxx

And welcome to the latest, festive instalment of my Baking Around the World series, where I (attempt to) bake delicious, sweet treats from around the globe, in an effort to broaden my foodie horizons!

This time, we’re heading back to Sweden! I’ve already made one bake from Sweden (jordgubbstårta, a light and airy cake filled with pastry cream and strawberries), but I love making festive cookies from around the world this time of year, so I decided to try out these schackrutor (‘chess squares’) too.

A quick Baking Around the World disclaimer before we get into the recipe:

While I have done/will do extensive research for each of the recipes in this series, the recipes are unlikely to be 100% authentic because of differences in ingredient availability, variations within families/regions and multiple other reasons. I'm so sorry if I absolutely butcher your favourite childhood treat (and please let me know in the comments if I have made any unforgiveable errors), but please do give me the benefit of the doubt here- I am just a baker with a serious sweet tooth, trying to broaden her baking (and cultural) horizons through tasty snacks :)

Table of Contents

• Schackrutor: Explained
• Ingredients
• Making the Dough
• Shaping the Dough
• Slicing and Baking the Cookies
• Storage Instructions
• Final Thoughts
• Recipe
• Sources Used

Schackrutor: Explained

Schackrutor are bitesize, shortbread-style biscuits that are made with two flavours of dough (vanilla and chocolate), which are pieced together to create a (typically) 2×2 checkerboard (hence the name, which means ‘chess squares’). Checkerboard cookies are popular all over the world, but it seems that schackrutor were where it all began!

These cookies aren’t restricted to being a ‘Christmas cookie’, but I think they make such a lovely festive treat, especially if you have any friends/family members who aren’t a fan of the more traditional Christmas flavours (think nuts, oranges and dried fruits!).

Schackrutor are often served in Sweden for fika (a social coffee break steeped in rich tradition), sometimes are part of the ‘sju sorters kakor’ (‘seven types of cookie’) custom. Apparently, seven is considered the ideal number for cookies at a gathering, because any less would be ‘stingy’ and any more would be ‘over the top’! To save time, one dough is often used to make multiple different types of biscuits, sometimes called ‘1-2-3 Cookies’, (because of the proportions of the ingredients in the dough: 1 : 2 : 3 of sugar : butter : flour!) and this is the dough we’ll be making today.

Ingredients

You only need 5 ingredients to make schackrutor. The basic dough itself only requires 3 ingredients, while the 2 remaining ingredients provide the chocolate and vanilla flavour.

• Caster sugar

I used golden caster sugar, but white caster sugar will also work.

• Salted butter

I discovered in my research for the jordgubbstårta that the majority of the butter available in Swedish supermarket tends to be salted, so I’ve used salted butter here in an attempt to be more authentic! It’s great, because then you don’t have to worry about adding any salt yourself! If you only have unsalted butter, I’d recommend adding a generous pinch of fine sea salt to your flour at the beginning of the recipe. Your butter needs to be at room temperature (or slightly softened, if your house is chilly!).

• Plain flour

It’s important to use plain flour (not self-raising) for this recipe, because you don’t want the biscuits to rise— you want them to be short and crumbly!

• Vanilla bean paste

In Sweden, vanilla flavour is usually imparted via the addition of a store-bought product called vaniljsocker (‘vanilla sugar’). This ingredient is not readily available here in the UK, so I’ve used vanilla bean paste instead. I like using the paste because it imparts a lovely vanilla flavour without adding too much liquid to the dough (and you can see all the tiny vanilla bean specks in the cookies!).

• Cocoa powder

A small amount of cocoa powder is added to half of the dough to give it a chocolate-y flavour and a deep brown colour, which contrasts nicely with the vanilla dough and helps the checkerboard design to really stand out.

Making the Dough

Schackrutor dough is really easy to make: I do it in the food processor (because the cookies are so tiny, you only need a small amount of dough, so I do it in my mini food processor. You could easily scale the recipe up and make loads of biscuits, though!).

Place the caster sugar, softened butter, plain flour and vanilla bean paste into the food processor.

Pulse everything together until it comes together into a dough… and that’s the dough made!

Tip the dough out onto a clean work surface.

Then give it a little knead to bring it together into a smooth ball.

At this point, you need to weigh the dough, so that you can split it in half evenly. You can eyeball this, but you’ll get the neatest, most even cookies if you weight it! Weigh the whole ball of dough, then divide that number by 2 and split the dough into two equal balls, each weighing that final amount.

Now you need to add the cocoa powder to one of the dough balls. I like to knead it in by hand, until no streaks of vanilla dough remain, so that I can make sure it’s really well incorporated! It’s a little messy, but all the best things are.

Once you have two balls of dough: one chocolate and one vanilla, you’re ready to shape the dough into the classic checkerboard design!

Shaping the Dough

Now it’s time to make the schackrutor log (though it’s really more of a cuboid, which is what gives these biscuits their classic, square shape when sliced!).

The log is made up of four smaller logs (also cuboids): two vanilla and two chocolate, which are pressed together to form the checkerboard design.

Take one of your dough halves (I’m working with the chocolate dough first here) and divide it in half again, so you have two equal balls of dough (it helps to weigh and divide the dough by 2 here, just like last time, to ensure they’re perfectly even!).

Take one of the dough balls and form it into a thin, rectangular log. The aim is for the cross section of the log to be a 1 x 1 cm square (mine ended up about 17cm long). I used my hands to press the dough into a rough log, then tapped all of the sides with a bench scraper, turning the log as I went, to get those square edges.

Repeat this process for the second dough ball, making a square log as similar to the first as you can! Things might be getting a little sticky at this point, but it’s important that you don’t add any extra flour/cocoa powder, because the logs need to be tacky enough to stick to each other later on. If things get unbearably sticky, I’d recommend just washing down your work surface and utensils before getting going again (almost like a stickiness reset!).

Once you have your two chocolate logs, repeat the whole process for the vanilla dough. I’d recommend wiping down your work surface before you do this, to make sure you don’t get any streaks of cocoa in your vanilla dough. Because of the added cocoa powder in the chocolate dough, you might find that the vanilla dough is slightly softer/stickier, but don’t worry— it’ll bake up perfectly!

Once you have all four of the logs ready to go, you can form the checkerboard design.

Place one vanilla log alongside one chocolate log and press them together, being careful not to distort the shapes too much.

Then, add the second vanilla log on top of the chocolate log and the second chocolate log on top of the bottom vanilla log, pressed against each other along the middle so that you have a 2×2 design, with the logs of each colour in opposite quadrants. Gently press all of the logs together so that there are no gaps between them.

Wrap the log tightly in clingfilm, then use the bench scraper again to press gently on each of the sides a few times to really square them off.

Transfer the log to the fridge and allow it to chill for at least 2 hours before slicing. This ensures that they are firm enough to slice without disturbing the checkerboard pattern (and means that the cookies won’t spread too much during baking!).

Slicing and Baking the Cookies

Once the cookie logs have chilled, it’s time to slice & bake them!

Start by preheating the oven to 180°C (conventional oven, not fan) and lining a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Remove the schackrutor log from the fridge and use a small, sharp knife to cut it into slices, about 5-7mm thick (don’t worry too much about getting them perfect, just try your best so that they bake pretty evenly!).

Space the cookies out onto the prepared baking trays (they won’t spread too much, but it’s best to leave a little space between them, just in case!).

Then, it’s time to bake the schackrutor! They’ll need about 6-8 minutes in the preheated oven, just until the edges are starting to turn golden.

Once baked, leave them to cool for 5 or so minutes on their trays, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Storage Instructions

The schackrutor need to be stored in an airtight container at room temperature. They’ll keep for about 3 days before they start going a bit soft (still tasty, just not quite as crisp!).

Final Thoughts

I LOVE these little checkerboard cookies! They dough itself is very similar to the one I use for my 5-Ingredient Iced Star Biscuits, but it really shows how versatile it is, because the two cookies have such different vibes.

Also… these cookies are SO much smaller than I expected them to be! As in, they really are bitesize. You could definitely make them bigger if you wanted to (by making taller/wider logs, or even stacking more logs together, which I’m very interested in having a go at), but I do kind of love how tiny they are, it makes them feel so cute and dainty.

These are a simple cookie, elevated to something surprisingly impressive by just a little cocoa powder and a bit of shaping, which I think is pretty magical! I also like that you can form the log, get everything ready, then slice and bake the cookies when you want to serve them, so your family/friends can enjoy some delicious, fresh biscuits.

Recipe

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Swedish Schackrutor

Bitesize vanilla and chocolate shortbread cookies with a checkerboard design.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Swedish

Keyword 5 ingredient, Biscuit, Chocolate, Vanilla

Prep Time 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes minutes

Chill Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 2 hours hours 35 minutes minutes

Servings 25 cookies

Equipment

• Baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
• Bench scraper/clean metal ruler, for squaring off the biscuit dough.

Ingredients

• 25 g caster sugar
• 50 g salted butter, softened.
• 75 g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

Instructions

• Place the sugar, butter, flour and vanilla bean paste into a food processor. Pulse until a dough forms.
• Weigh the dough and divide it in half evenly.
• Knead the cocoa powder into one half of the cookie dough until no streaks of vanilla dough remains.
• Divide the vanilla dough into two equal balls. Form each ball into a square log (use a bench scraper/clean metal ruler to really square off the edges), about 1 x 1 x 17cm. Set aside, then repeat with the chocolate dough, so that you have four logs. Do not add any extra flour/cocoa powder at this stage— you need the dough to be slightly sticky.
• Press one vanilla log against one chocolate log. Place the second vanilla log on top of the first chocolate log, then the second chocolate log in the remaining space, on top of the first vanilla log. Press the logs together gently so they stick.
• Wrap the log tightly in cling film and use a bench scraper to press up against the sides and make it super square. Place the log into the fridge to chill for 2 hours before slicing and baking.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C (conventional, not fan).
• Cut the log into approx. 5-7mm slices. Space the cookies on lined baking trays and bake in the preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, until just starting to turn golden around the edges.
• Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the trays, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before enjoying. The cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days before they start going soft.

Sources Used

Books:

Crumbs: Cookies and Sweets from Around the World, Ben Mims.

ScandiKitchen: Fika and Hygge, Bronte Aurell.

Websites:

Daily In-A Kitchen: 3×3 Checkerboard Cookies

Totally Swedish: Brysselkex and Schackrutor

True North Kitchen: Swedish Checkerboard Cookies

Swedish Spoon: Schackrutor—Swedish checkerboard cookies

Visit Sweden: Chessboard Cookies (‘Schackrutor’) – Recipe

Every Christmas, I make a whole load of my family’s favourite Peppermint Bark. We were sent some homemade peppermint bark as a gift many years ago and, ever since, it just hasn’t been the festive season without a full jar of the stuff!

However, my sister-in-law, Amy, is not a huge fan of peppermint, so, obviously, that particular bark isn’t exactly her treat of choice. Last year, we sat down and brainstormed some ideas for a zero-peppermint alternative and we landed on this: a Rocky Road-inspired bark, with a 50/50 blend of milk and dark chocolate with raisins, marshmallows and digestive biscuits.

In today’s post, I’m sharing the recipe for Amy’s Bark: a fun, festive alternative to peppermint bark (for the candy cane-haters and the rocky road-lovers alike!).

Table of Contents

• Ingredients
• Method
  • Tempering the Chocolate
  • Assembling the Bark
• Recipe

Ingredients

To make Amy’s Bark, you will need:

• Dark chocolate

I like to use a 50/50 blend of dark and milk chocolate for this recipe. The dark chocolate that I use contains about 72% cocoa solids (so relatively dark). When combined with the milk chocolate, you get a perfectly sweet (but not-too-sweet!), chocolate base. However, if you prefer, you can use all dark or all milk: it’s up to you!

• Milk chocolate

The milk chocolate that I use for this recipe contains about 32% cocoa solids.

• Digestive biscuits

Biscuits add great crunch and texture to the bark. Digestives are a classic biscuit here in the UK and a key feature of our Rocky Road. They’re great, because they add a slight saltiness, which balances out the sweetness of the other ingredients, but feel free to experiment with different biscuits!

• Raisins

Dried fruit adds sweetness, tartness and a bit of a chew to bark. You can use raisins or sultanas for this recipe (I actually prefer sultanas myself, because they’re seedless!), but you could also really branch out and use dried cranberries, cherries or even chopped, dried apricots!

• Mini marshmallows

Marshmallows add even more chew and sweetness. I prefer to use mini marshmallows so they can be easily distributed throughout the bark (and it’s a lot less sticky than cutting up bigger marshmallows!).

Method

Amy’s Bark is pretty simple to make: the only tricky part is tempering the chocolate! Once the chocolate is in temper, you need to work fast, so it’s best to get everything weighed out and ready before you start:

• Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
• Weigh out the marshmallows and raisins and have them to hand, ready to sprinkle over the bark.
• Break the digestive biscuits up into very small pieces (this helps to keep the bark relatively thin and ensures that the biscuits are evenly distributed throughout the chocolate).

Tempering the Chocolate

To make Amy’s Bark, you start by tempering the chocolate. This ensures the finished bark sets properly at room temperature and has a great snap.

This chocolate tempering process is complicated by the fact that we’re using a combination of two chocolate types: milk and dark, so it’s a little different to the chocolate tempering instructions given here. Luckily, dark chocolate is actually the easiest to temper, so it’s easier to temper this mix than it is to just temper milk chocolate!

You’re welcome to use your favourite method for tempering chocolate, but this is what I do:

Roughly chop all of the chocolate (milk and dark). Transfer about 4/5 of the chocolate to a heatproof bowl and microwave on the lowest setting for 1 minute (if you don’t have a microwave, you can do this over a pan of barely simmering water on the hob).

While the chocolate is in the microwave, continue chopping the remaining 1/5 of the chocolate so that it is super fine. We’ll use this later to help with the tempering process.

After 1 minute, give the chocolate a stir. It won’t look very different at this stage, so put it back in for another minute (don’t be tempted to skip the stirring step, though: chocolate can burn very easily, so you want to take it slow and steady).

Keep microwaving the chocolate in 30 second – 1 minute bursts, stirring in between each burst, until it is completely melted. Check the temperature as you go, using a probe thermometer: you want it to reach 45-47°C. Don’t let the chocolate go any higher than 50°C.

Once the chocolate has melted and is at the correct temperature, add a small amount of the finely chopped, reserved chocolate and stir it in well until it has melted into the rest of the chocolate. The additional chocolate is known as ‘seed chocolate’ and helps the melted chocolate to cool the right way. This, along with the stirring motion, is the key to perfectly tempered chocolate!

Keep adding seed chocolate and stirring, keeping an eye on the temperature of the chocolate, until it reaches 26-27°C. If you run out of seed chocolate, just keep stirring the chocolate until it comes down to temperature (or chop up a little more chocolate, if you have it!).

Next, return the chocolate to the microwave and heat it very gently (5-10 second bursts on the lowest setting) until it reaches 30-32°C. The chocolate is now in temper and is ready to use! You’ll want to work fast at this stage, because it will start to set quite quickly.

Assembling the Bark

Tip the broken up digestives into the bowl with the tempered chocolate. Mix them together quickly, but thoroughly, so that all of the digestives are covered in the chocolate. This helps to keep the biscuits slightly fresher and crunchier than if they were just scattered over the top of the chocolate, so your bark will last longer.

Tip the chocolate mixture onto the prepared baking tray and spread it out into a thin layer using an offset palette knife, or the back of a spoon/spatula.

Sprinkle over the raisins and marshmallows, pressing them down gently as you go to ensure that they stick to the chocolate. Continue to work quickly at this point, because if the chocolate sets too hard before the raisins/marshmallows are added, they won’t stick!

Set the bark aside at room temperature to harden completely (about 30 minutes).

Once firm, break the bark up into pieces and enjoy!

The bark can be stored at room temperature, but it’s important to keep it in an airtight jar/tin to keep the biscuits super crunchy. It can also be packaged up in little bags and given to your friends and family as gifts!

Recipe

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Rocky Road Bark (Amy’s Bark)

A 50/50 blend of dark and milk chocolate, digestive biscuits, raisins and marshmallows all combined into a fun bark, perfect for snacking on and gifting this festive season!

Course Snack

Cuisine British

Keyword 5 ingredient, Chocolate, Rocky Road

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Setting Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Equipment

• 1 Baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
• Thermometer

Ingredients

• 3 digestive biscuits
• 180 g dark chocolate
• 180 g milk chocolate
• 50 g raisins
• 25 g mini marshmallows

Instructions

• Break the digestive biscuits into very small pieces. Set them aside. Weigh out the raisins and mini marshmallows and set them aside too, ready for later.
• Melt and temper the chocolate (both the dark and milk, together). See post above for detailed instructions on how to do this.
• Working quickly, mix the broken digestives into the chocolate until completely coated.
• Tip the chocolate/biscuit mixture onto the lined baking tray and use an offset spatula/the back of a spoon to spread it out quickly into a thin layer.
• Sprinkle over the raisins and mini marshmallows, pressing them down gently into the chocolate to make sure they stick.
• Set the bark aside at room temperature until hardened (about 30 minutes) before breaking into pieces. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

It’s time to introduce you to the delight that is the Chocolate Puddle!

What is a Chocolate Puddle, you ask? It’s exactly what it sounds like: a literal puddle (i.e., bigger than a drop, (much) smaller than a pond) of chocolate, topped with whatever delicious additions your heart desires. Chocolate puddles are one of the easiest candies to make and are super customisable (so they’re particularly good for families that can’t quite agree on the ideal, chocolate-y treat!). You can make them look (and taste) super elegant & fancy, or super fun & frivolous: it all depends on what you choose to top them with!

Keep these puddles in a jar for your family to snack on this festive season. Pile them into cellophane bags and give them to your friends as gifts. Host a Puddle Party and make hundreds of them, letting all of your guests sprinkle over their favourite additions and create custom puddles. The puddle possibilities are endless. That is the joy of the Chocolate Puddle!

Today, I’m sharing the recipe for two varieties of Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles, which will hopefully provide you with a) a blueprint for a delicious, cherry & almond snack and b) a starting point for any future puddle ventures. Let the puddles begin!

Table of Contents

• The Chocolate Puddle: Explained
• Tempering Chocolate
  • Equipment
  • The Seeding Method
  • Chocolate Tempering Temperatures
• Making Chocolate Puddles
  • Milk Chocolate, Cherry & Almond Puddles
  • Dark Chocolate, Cherry & Almond Puddles
• Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles Recipe

The Chocolate Puddle: Explained

At its core, the Chocolate Puddle is just a scant teaspoon of tempered chocolate (white, milk, dark etc., the choice is yours!), sprinkled with delicious toppings and left to set at room temperature until it solidifies into a delicious, chocolate-y treat.

You can make puddles by simply melting the chocolate, skipping the tempering stage and leaving them to set in the fridge but a) you’ll have to store them in the fridge and b) they’ll be messier to eat (untempered chocolate is absolutely going to melt the second it hits your fingers, so hello sticky fingerprints all over your Christmas wrapping!).

Tempering the chocolate means that the chocolate will set at room temperature, so you can store the puddles in a jar on the counter (for optimal snacking!). It also makes it easier to give the puddles as gifts and ensures they have the perfect snap and shine (though, admittedly, the shine is the hardest part to get, as you can tell by the unfortunate bloom on my puddles this year… let this be a tempering lesson to you: don’t let your chocolate go above the ‘melting’ temperature range!).

You can use any type of chocolate and any topping you want to make puddles. Pick your favourite ingredients and flavour combinations: mini marshmallows, nuts and dried fruit are all delicious, but the possibilities are endless. Today, I’m making cherry & almond puddles, so I’m using a combination of dried cherries, whole almonds and flaked almonds, along with milk and dark chocolate.

Tempering Chocolate

I do already have a post on the blog where I talk about tempering chocolate (you can find it here), but I thought I’d re-share my method in this post to make it super easy for you guys to follow along! I’ve also updated my tempering technique a little since that first post to make the whole process a little quicker & easier (woohoo!).

Equipment

To temper chocolate, you will need:

• Heatproof bowl

I melt chocolate using the microwave, but you can also do it by placing the chocolate into a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Either way, you’ll need a bowl that can withstand the heat!

• Spatula

I like to use a silicone spatula (particularly one with a flat edge) for stirring the chocolate, because you can really scrape down the sides of the bowl with it: chocolate gets messy and you don’t want to waste any!

• Large knife

You’ll need to finely chop some of the chocolate and a large knife is the best tool for this.

• Chopping board

A large knife requires a sturdy chopping board!

• Digital thermometer

You’ll need to be able to monitor the temperature of your chocolate as you go. There are all sorts of candy thermometers available that will work perfectly well for this, but I like to use an infrared one (like this), because it means the thermometer stays clean and chocolate-free! I do recommend using a digital thermometer of some sort though, because the temperatures that you need to watch out for are very specific!

The Seeding Method

The method that I use for tempering chocolate is called the ‘Seeding Method‘. It involves introducing finely chopped, unmelted chocolate to the melted chocolate to encourage the latter to recrystallise in the correct way. It sounds complicated, but it’s not too crazy (it’s basically just a lot of stirring).

The first step is to prepare the ‘seed’ chocolate. Take about 1/5 of the chocolate you plan to temper and, using a large knife, chop it up very finely. Set this aside for now.

The next step is to melt the chocolate. Place the remaining 4/5 of the chocolate into your heatproof bowl and melt it using your preferred method. For me, this is 30-60 second bursts on the lowest setting in my microwave, stirring in between each burst.

Monitor the temperature of the chocolate as you do this. It’s important that the chocolate reaches a particular temperature (this varies based on the type of chocolate you use: see the ‘melting’ range in the ‘Chocolate Tempering Temperatures‘ table below), but does not go above the upper limit, or it won’t temper properly (see the bloom on my puddles for evidence of this… a definite case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’ here!).

Now, it’s time to add the seed chocolate! Add the finely chopped chocolate to the melted chocolate a little at a time, stirring between each addition until the seed chocolate has completely melted into the rest of the mass.

Monitor the temperature of the chocolate as you go. The aim is to get it down to within the ‘cooling’ range (see table below). If you run out of seed chocolate before the temperature falls within that range, just keep stirring the chocolate, allowing it to cool further, until it does. Conversely, if you reach the correct temperature range before you’ve used all of your seed chocolate, don’t add any more! You can always transfer the leftover seed chocolate to an airtight container for next time you’re tempering.

Next, you need to very carefully warm the chocolate back up a little. The required temperature increase at this stage is only very slight, so you won’t need to heat it for long. Start small (about 10 seconds on the lowest setting in the microwave), then give it additional 3-5 second bursts if needed.

Once your chocolate has reached its final temperature, your chocolate is officially ‘in temper’ and is ready to use to make your Chocolate Puddles! It’s important to work quickly at this stage, because the chocolate will begin to set straightaway at room temperature (that is, after all, the whole point of tempering!).

Chocolate Tempering Temperatures

Making Chocolate Puddles

Once you have your tempered chocolate, its time to turn it into puddles!

Use a teaspoon to place small dollops of the tempered chocolate onto a tray, lined with baking paper. Aim to make all of the puddles a similar size, but don’t worry too much: any variation just shows they’re homemade!

Give the tray a little wiggle or tap it gently on the work surface. This helps the chocolate to settle out and makes the puddles super smooth.

Scatter over your chosen toppings (think nuts, marshmallows, dried fruit— whatever you want!) while the chocolate is still wet (remember to work quickly!). If you have any larger toppings, it might be easier to press them into the chocolate individually instead.

Set the tray aside for about an hour, until the puddles are completely set and you can peel them off the baking paper easily.

Milk Chocolate, Cherry & Almond Puddles

To make these puddles, I used tempered milk chocolate, then scattered over flaked almonds and finely chopped dried cherries.

Dark Chocolate, Cherry & Almond Puddles

To make these puddles, I used tempered dark chocolate, then pressed one whole almond and one dried cherry into each puddle.

Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles Recipe

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Cherry & Almond Chocolate Puddles

Chocolate Puddles are a super easy, delicious treat to make, either for snacking on or for giving as gifts. They can be easily customised to include your favourite flavours, but these ones feature dried cherries and almonds.

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword 3 ingredient, Chocolate

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Setting Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 34 minutes minutes

Servings 60 puddles

Equipment

• candy thermometer (see Note 1).

Ingredients

To make the dark chocolate puddles:

• 100 g dark chocolate (I used 54% dark chocolate).
• 30 dried cherries
• 30 whole almonds

To make the milk chocolate puddles:

• 100 g milk chocolate (I used 32% milk chocolate).
• 1 small handful dried cherries, finely chopped.
• 1 small handful flaked almonds

Instructions

To make the dark chocolate puddles:

• Temper the dark chocolate using your favourite method (or the method detailed in the post above).
• Place small spoonfuls of the chocolate onto a tray lined with baking paper, leaving about 2-3cm between each dollop.
• Once you've used up all of the chocolate, give the whole tray a little jiggle, or tap it gently on the work surface to smooth out the surface of the puddles.
• Quickly press one almond and one dried cherry onto each chocolate puddle.
• Set the tray aside at room temperature for about an hour, until the puddles are completely set and you can easily peel them off the baking paper. Enjoy immediately, or transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature.

To make the milk chocolate puddles:

• Temper the milk chocolate using your favourite method (or the method detailed in the post above).
• Place small spoonfuls of the chocolate onto a tray lined with baking paper, leaving about 2-3cm between each dollop.
• Once you've used up all of the chocolate, give the whole tray a little jiggle, or tap it gently on the work surface, to smooth out the surface of the puddles.
• Working quickly, scatter the chopped, dried cherries and the flaked almonds over the chocolate puddles, making sure each puddle has a bit of cherry and almond.
• Set the tray aside at room temperature for about an hour, until the puddles are completely set and you can easily peel them off the baking paper. Enjoy immediately, or transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature.

Notes

1. I like to use an infrared thermometer for this, because it stays clean and chocolate-free, which makes clean up a lot easier, but you can use your favourite candy thermometer.

Once upon a time, my family went on holiday to the south of France. We visited Carcassonne, which is a fortified city that is very popular with tourists and bought some nougat from a chocolate shop. Immediately, we were hooked.

During lockdown, I dedicated myself to recreating the nougat at home. Naturally, I fell deep down the nougat rabbit hole. It turns out, not all nougats are made equal: there are hard, brittle versions; soft, fluffy versions; dense, chocolate-y versions and many, many more. I am pretty certain that the nougat we had is called (or is at least similar to) Nougat de Montélimar, which is soft, thick and chewy (sounds right, anyway!).

Anyway, I digress. After, a bit of trialling and testing, I finally have my perfect nougat recipe. My favourite flavour on the trip was the pistachio one, so I’m sharing the recipe for a pistachio nougat today!

Table of Contents

• Equipment
• Ingredients
• Making the Nougat
• Storage Instructions
• Tips & Tricks
• Recipe

Equipment

Making sweets/candy usually requires some specialist equipment to make sure everything goes smoothly. Here is the equipment that you’ll need to make this nougat:

• Candy thermometer

A candy thermometer is a MUST for this recipe. The sugar syrup needs to reach a specific temperature (140°C) to achieve the perfect, soft and chewy texture. There are other ways that you can test the temperature of the syrup, but they can be a bit of a faff and are nowhere near as accurate. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, I’d strongly recommend buying one for this recipe (you can use it for so many other recipes too!). I like to use a probe thermometer, because they’re super accurate and easy to clean!

• Stand mixer

Another must: this recipe requires 15 whole minutes (yes, really) of full-speed whisking. You do not want to be doing that by hand, even if you have an electric hand whisk!

• Rolling pin

To get the nougat perfectly smooth and even, it’s rolled out between two sheets of wafer paper. To do this, you need a rolling pin (though, if you don’t have one, you could always use a wine bottle)!.

• Spatula

Nougat is sticky, particularly when it’s warm, so a spatula (lightly greased with oil) will be your best friend.

• Flat-edged wooden spoon

You need a really strong implement to stir the nuts through the nougat (it’s super stiff!) and my preference is a flat-edged wooden spoon. The flat edge makes it really easy to get right down to the bottom of bowl and make sure no nougat goes to waste. A regular wooden spoon will also work, though, if that’s what you have.

Ingredients

To make pistachio nougat, you will need the following ingredients:

• Wafer paper

This is a specialist ingredient, but you can find it online (I used this one, from Amazon). It’s typically sold in A4 sheets and you’ll need 2 sheets for this recipe. Nougat can get sticky, so a sheet of wafer paper is placed underneath and on top of the slab to make it easier to manage/eat later on!

• Pistachios

I’ve used whole pistachios in this nougat (to make it pistachio nougat), but you can use different nuts if you prefer. You could even do a combination of nuts, such as pistachios and almonds.

• Caster sugar

I used golden caster sugar for my nougat, but white caster sugar would work just as well.

• Honey

Honey is a key ingredient for this style of nougat: it adds flavour and helps to achieve that perfect, chewy texture.

• Water

Is water an ingredient? I suppose so, when it needs to be measured precisely! The water is combined with the sugar and honey to form a syrup, which is whisked together with the egg whites.

• Egg whites

Egg whites form the base of the nougat. You don’t need the yolks for this recipe, so you can use them for something else!

• Green food colouring

This is optional, but I like to add green food colouring to this nougat recipe, just to really drive home the whole ‘pistachio’ thing. You can leave it out, or you can use a different colour, instead. I used the Aqua Blend food colouring from Colour Mill in the shade Forest, but I’ve used other food colourings in the past and they worked absolutely fine.

• Sunflower oil

As I mentioned, nougat gets sticky, so it’s handy to have a little oil to hand to grease your spatula/knife. I’ve used sunflower, but any flavourless oil will work. It just helps you to work with the nougat without it getting stuck to anything and everything!

Making the Nougat

The first step when making this nougat is to toast the pistachios (or whichever nuts you’re using). I like to just give them a gentle toast, so they taste extra delicious but still keep their vibrant green colour. Just put them in a dry pan over medium-high heat for a few minutes, giving them a shake every now and then, until they’re smelling nutty. Once they’re toasted, remove them from the pan and set them aside to cool while you make the nougat.

Place the sugar, honey and water into a large saucepan. Set the pan over medium heat and allow the sugar to melt. Try not to stir it too much once it’s on the heat (you don’t want the sugar to crystallise!).

While the sugar is melting, place the egg whites and 10-15 drops of food colouring (if using) in the metal bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Adding the food colouring at this stage means you’ll get a more even colour throughout the nougat, but, as the nougat whips, the colour will become much less vibrant, so you need more than you think! You can always add more later though, if needed (and I did need to because, at this stage, I added a grand total of 3 drops to my nougat, which left it looking practically snow white). Leave this to the side, ready to whisk later on.

Once the sugar has melted, keep the syrup over the heat and monitor the temperature of it with a candy thermometer. You’re aiming for it to reach 140°C.

Once the sugar reaches approximately 130°C (at this point it will be bubbling away nicely!), turn the stand mixer up to high speed and whisk the egg whites until they reach stiff peaks.

You don’t want to do this too early, or the egg whites will collapse before the syrup is ready. Similarly, you don’t want to leave it too late, or the syrup will cool down too much before the egg whites are ready! I find that 130°C is a pretty good sweet spot.

Once the sugar reaches 140°C, remove the pan from the heat. With the mixer still running on high, pour the syrup into the beaten egg whites in a slow, steady stream down the side of the bowl.

Turn the mixer up to full speed and leave it to whisk for about 15 minutes, or until the nougat is thick, stiff and beginning to tear. The nougat will still be warm (and the metal bowl pretty hot) at this point, so be careful when you handle it!

You can see in the photo above what happens when you add the food colouring at this stage (as opposed to with the egg whites): there’s a clear colour divide in the bowl! Luckily, the colours mix together pretty easily with a wooden spoon and a bit of elbow grease, so don’t worry too much.

From now on, work quite quickly, as the nougat will become harder to work with the cooler it gets. Tip in the toasted, cooled pistachios.

Use a flat-bottomed wooden spoon to mix them into the nougat, making sure to get right down to the bottom of the bowl.

Place one sheet of the wafer paper onto a clean work surface. Tip the nougat on top of the wafer paper.

Use a lightly oiled spatula to press the nougat down slightly.

Place the second sheet of wafer paper right on top of the nougat and smooth it out with your hands. Use a rolling pin to roll out the nougat to your desired thickness (mine was about 2.5cm/1 inch thick, but you can go as thick/thin as you want!).

Set the nougat aside at room temperature for a couple of hours to cool down, then transfer the slab to an airtight container and leave it overnight to firm up completely.

Once it’s set, you can trim off any excess paper with a pair of scissors and cut it into bitesize squares with a large knife, ready to enjoy! If you find that the nougat is sticking to your knife, you can lightly grease the knife with a little more flavourless oil to help prevent this.

Storage Instructions

The nougat keeps really well, so you can make it in advance. Store it in an airtight container at room temperature and it will be fine for up to 1 month, ready for giving to your friends/family as presents or just enjoying throughout the festive season!

Tips & Tricks

• Colouring the nougat

The easiest time to add food colouring to nougat is at the start, before you whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks, because it will ensure that the nougat is evenly tinted. However, it can be really hard to tell how much you need at this stage, because the colour will get significantly paler once the nougat is whisked. Luckily, you can always add more colouring later on (you’ll just have to mix in any residual, paler streaks in by hand!).

• Oil

Lightly oiling your utensils (particularly the spatula you use to transfer the nougat from the bowl to the wafer paper and the knife you use to cut the nougat before serving) is super helpful, because it prevents the nougat from sticking to them. I’d definitely recommend keeping some oil on hand to save your sanity!

• Washing up

Nougat is sticky (have I mentioned that enough times?), so washing up all of the bowls and pans can seem a bit daunting! The important thing to remember, though, is that nougat is mainly sugar and sugar dissolves in water. Just fill the mixer bowl and saucepan with hot, soapy water, submerge all of the other nougat-y/syrupy utensils in the bowl/pan and leave for 5-10 minutes. It’ll be so much easier to clean afterwards!

Recipe

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Pistachio Nougat

Soft, chewy, French-style nougat, filled with pistachios.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine French

Keyword Nougat, Pistachio

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Setting time 12 hours hours

Total Time 13 hours hours

Servings 70 squares

Equipment

• candy thermometer

Ingredients

• 2 sheets A4 wafer paper (see Note 1).
• 165 g pistachios
• 450 g caster sugar
• 225 g honey
• 75 ml water
• 75 g egg whites (approx. 2 large eggs).
• 10-15 drops Green food colouring (optional)(see Note 2).
• Sunflower oil, for greasing.

Instructions

• Place the pistachios into a dry pan and toast over medium-high heat until smelling nutty. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool.
• Place the sugar, honey and water into a large saucepan. Place over medium heat and wait for the sugar to dissolve. Do not stir.
• Place the egg whites into the metal bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the green food colouring, if using (the colour will pale significantly when the nougat is whipped, but you can always add more colouring later on if needed). Set aside for now.
• Once the sugar has dissolved, keep the syrup over the heat and allow to bubble away. Monitor the temperature using a candy thermometer.
• Once the syrup reaches about 130°C, start whipping the egg whites on high speed until they reach stiff peaks.
• Once the syrup reaches 140°C, remove it from the heat and, with the mixer running on high, pour it into the egg whites in a slow, steady stream down the side of the bowl.
• Turn the mixer speed up to full and leave the nougat to whip for about 15 minutes, until the mixture is thick, stiff and beginning to tear. When you stop the machine and lift the whisk, the ribbon falling from it should tear off. The nougat will still be warm (as will the metal bowl, so be careful!).
• At this point, work quickly, because the nougat will get harder to work with the cooler it gets. Add the toasted pistachios and use a wooden spoon to stir them into the nougat until they are evenly distributed.
• Place one of the wafer paper sheets onto a clean work surface. Tip the nougat onto the wafer paper. Use a lightly oiled spatula to flatten out the nougat slightly, then press the second wafer paper sheet on top of it. Use a rolling pin to gently and evenly flatten out the nougat until it is your desired thickness (mine was approx. 2.5cm/1 inch).
• Leave the nougat at room temperature to cool for a couple of hours, then transfer the slab to an airtight container and leave overnight to set. Once set, trim off any excess wafer paper around the edges with a pair of scissors, then use a sharp, lightly oiled knife to cut it into squares.
• Store the nougat in an airtight container at room temperature. It will keep for about 1 month.

Notes

1. I used this wafer paper from Amazon.
2. I used the Aqua Blend colouring from Colour Mill in the shade Forest.

Recipe adapted from https://www.souschef.co.uk/blogs/the-bureau-of-taste/strawberry-pistachio-nougat-recipe

I recently made a wedding cake for a family friend and, this weekend, I’ve been sharing the recipes & all of the fun, summer-y details! This was only my second time making a wedding cake (check out my Wedding Cake Week series for the first time, where I made the cake for my brother’s big day!), so I am by no means a professional, but I’m so happy with how these cakes turned out and I’m so excited to be sharing them with you now!

Yesterday, I shared the recipe for the main cake: an 8-inch, circular, 4-layer, naked cake, made up of an orange & olive oil sponge, filled with a honey-yoghurt icing and decorated with edible pressed flowers & homemade candied orange peels.

Along with the main cake, I made two rectangular traybake versions of the same cake (same sponge, same icing, same decoration), to ensure that there was plenty of cake to go around! In today’s post, I’m sharing that scaled-up, traybake version of the original recipe, plus some tips/tricks for working with larger cakes (which these traybakes, coming in at 9 x 13 inches inch, definitely are!).

Let’s get into it!

Table of Contents

• The Tin
• Baking the Traybakes
• Assembling the Traybakes
• Decorating the Traybakes
• Tips for Working with Large Cakes
• Recipe

The Tin

For each of the two traybakes, I used this tin from Silverwood: it’s a 9 x 13 x 2 inch, rectangular tin with straight sides and a loose base. This is such a good tin: you get super neat, perfectly straight sides on your finished cake, it’s really easy to get the cake out of it once it’s baked (thanks to the loose base) and the cake cooks really evenly. It is on the pricier side, but, like all Silverwood tins, I think it’s a really good investment: particularly if you’re making a naked cake like this, where it’s really important that the cake itself is super neat and tidy!

The quantities/temperatures in this recipe are specifically formulated for a baking tin of this size. If you want to use a different size/shape tin, you will need to adjust the amounts/temperatures accordingly.

Just like with the circular cake, it’s really important to prepare the tin properly for this recipe, so that the cake doesn’t stick to the tin. This includes:

• Brushing the whole tin with a layer of my DIY Cake Release.
• Lining the bottom of the tin with a rectangle of baking paper.
• Brushing a thin layer of DIY Cake Release on top of the baking paper layer.
• Once the cake comes out of the oven, gently pushing the edges of the cake inwards, towards the centre, to loosen them from the sides of the tin.

I know it sounds a bit overkill, but this cake can be a bit of a menace when it comes to sticking to the tin, so it’s better to be safe than sorry!

Baking the Traybakes

The only differences between the traybake sponges and the circular sponges are a) the tins, b) the ingredient quantities and c) the baking times/temperatures. Otherwise, the whole process of preparing the tins, making the cake batter and checking for the doneness of the cake are exactly the same. Because of this, I won’t be doing a deep-dive into the step-by-step process here. If you want to check out my previous two posts on this particular cake batter for more detailed instructions, you can find them here:

• Mini Orange & Olive Oil Layer Cakes with Greek Yoghurt and Honey Icing
• Orange & Olive Oil Layer Cake with Honey-Yoghurt Icing (Wedding Cake Weekend #2)

The traybakes are larger than the original, circular cake. This means that:

• The quantity of cake batter required is larger.
• The baking temperature should be lower.
• The baking time will be longer.

This is standard practice for larger cakes: obviously, they require more cake batter, but also, in order to ensure they are fully cooked through (and don’t burn on the top!), they need to be baked at a lower temperature for a longer time. Therefore, these traybakes are baked at 160°C (conventional oven, not fan) for 55-60 minutes (compared to the smaller, 8-inch, circular layer cake, which is baked at 165°C for 35-40 minutes).

Assembling the Traybakes

Unlike the main cake, which is split into 4, thin layers, I split each of these traybakes into two layers, so I had two separate, 2-layer cakes. You could absolutely split each traybake into 4 layers by splitting each half into half again horizontally, but it can be quite tricky to work with larger cakes than this, so you would need to be very gentle and careful to ensure that you do not break any of the layers. Also, be aware that you will need twice as much icing (because you’ll be filling 2 extra layers!), so plan accordingly. Because my traybakes were for a (very important!) event, I decided that it was easier to go for two thicker layers: you still get plenty of the delicious icing, but it significantly lowers the risk factor involved!

As with the circular cake, I found it easiest to use a cake leveller to split each cake in half (I use this one). Because these cakes have such a large surface area and have such clean, sharp edges, using a cake leveller makes it much easier to cut through the sponges in a perfectly neat, straight line. Having said that, if you’re confident in your ability to cut in straight lines (I am not), you could absolutely use a large, serrated knife instead!

I used the exact same method as the circular cake to fill the traybakes: just piping dollops of the icing all over the surface of the cake. Because these are rectangular cakes, I piped the dollops in rows (as opposed to the concentric circles of the main cake!).

Decorating the Traybakes

While, with the main cake, I added the flower/candied orange peels in a ring around the circumference of the cake, with the traybakes, I opted to just scatter the decorations all over the surface. I actually love how this approach turned out: I think these traybakes ended up looking so pretty, summer-y and fun!

Just like with the main cake, I started with the bigger, more dramatic edible flowers, then worked my way down to the smaller flowers. Once all of the individual flowers were placed, I added the candied orange peels. Finally, I sprinkled over some mixed dried petals, to give the whole thing a colourful, celebratory feel.

Tips for Working with Large Cakes

As cakes go, a 9 x 13 inch one is pretty large and, as a result, can be a little unruly to work with!

Below are a few tips for working with large cakes, to make the process as easy as possible for you:

• Use a cake leveller.

As I mentioned, you can absolutely use a large, serrated knife to split a large cake in half horizontally, as you need to do for this recipe, but the large area does mean that there’s more room for things to go a bit askew! I find it easier to use a cake leveller for this, because you can just slowly walk it through the sponge and let it do all the hard work for you. I use this one.

• Use a cake lifter.

With such a large surface area, there’s a greater potential for cracking/breakages whenever you move the cake around, particularly if you’ve sliced it in half and are working with thinner, more fragile layers. While you’re unlikely to find a cake lifter that can hold the full surface area of this cake, it will still do a better job than your hands at supporting more of the cake at any given time, so it’s worth using one if you have it!

• When holding the cake, let it rest on your forearms.

I know that hands are a cook’s best tools and all that, but I think forearms are underrated. Anything you can do to increase the amount of cake you’re supporting will help prevent breakages, so letting the cake rest on your forearms if you need to transfer it from Point A to Point B is a helpful workaround, particularly if you don’t have a cake lifter.

• Make sure you have a serving plate/board large enough!

This one seems pretty obvious, but the bigger the cake, the bigger the serving plate you’ll need for it! If you can’t find anything big enough, you could always use a chopping board or baking tray (though, if you’re making the cake for an event, I would recommend purchasing a sturdy, professional cake board, like this one!).

Recipe

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Orange & Olive Oil Traybake with Honey-Yoghurt Icing

A traybake-ified version of my Orange & Olive Oil Layer Cake, filled with honey-yoghurt icing and decorated with edible pressed flowers & homemade candied orange peels.

Course Dessert

Keyword Greek yoghurt, Honey, Olive oil, Orange

Prep Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 2 hours hours 19 minutes minutes

Servings 50 wedding servings

Equipment

• 9 x 13 x 2 inch traybake tin (see Note 1).
• 1 piping bag, fitted with a large, round nozzle
• cake leveller (or a large, serrated knife).

Ingredients

For the tin:

• 2 batches DIY Cake Release (see Note 2).

For the cake:

• 450 g golden caster sugar
• 6 oranges (zest of 6 + 180ml juice (approx. 3-4 oranges).
• 6 eggs
• 180 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 380 g plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 pinch fine sea salt

For the icing:

• 765 g Greek yoghurt (at least 10% fat)(see Note 3).
• 385 ml double cream
• 110 g runny honey (see Note 4).

To decorate:

• Edible pressed flowers (see Note 5).
• Candied orange peels (see Note 6).

Instructions

Prepare the cake tin:

• Brush the cake tin all over with a layer of DIY Cake Release. Line the base of the tin (not the sides) with baking paper, then brush the surface of the paper with a little more Cake Release. Set aside.

Make the orange & olive oil cake:

• Preheat the oven to 160°C (conventional oven, not fan).
• Place the caster sugar into the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Zest all 6 oranges directly into the bowl with the sugar, then use the back of spoon to press the zest into the sugar until evenly distributed.
• Add the eggs to the sugar, then whisk on high speed until the mixture has become pale and doubled in size. It should be thick and creamy, like the consistency of softly whipped cream.
• While the egg mixture is whisking, combine the flour, baking powder and sea salt in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
• With the mixer running, pour the olive oil into the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream, until it is all incorporated.
• Repeat this process with 180ml of freshly-squeezed orange juice, pouring it in in a slow, steady stream with the mixer running, until it is all incorporated.
• Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and sift 1/4 of the dry ingredient mixture directly over the surface of the batter. Use a handheld balloon whisk to fold the dry ingredients in gently, but thoroughly.
• Repeat this process 3 more times, adding 1/4 of the dry ingredients each time, until they are completely incorporated. Switch to a spatula for one final, brief stir to make sure no flour remains at the bottom of the bowl.
• Pour the batter into the prepared tin, then bake in the preheated oven for 55-60 minutes, until the edges of the cake are starting to pull away from the sides of the tin and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, use your fingers, or the flat edge of a palette knife, to very gently push the edges of the cakes inwards, towards the centre. This helps the cake to release from the sides of the tin, making it easier to get it out of the tin once they are cool and ensuring that the cake has neat edges later.
• Allow the cake to cool most of the way in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack, carefully remove the baking paper from the bottom and allow to cool completely before assembling.

Make the icing:

• When the cake are cool, make the icing. Place the yoghurt, cream and honey into the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk on high speed until the mixture just holds stiff peaks. Don't over-whip. Transfer to a piping bag, fitted with a large, round nozzle.

Assemble the cake:

• Once the cake is cold and the icing is made, it's time to assemble. Start by dividing the cake into two layers horizontally. I use a cake leveller for this, but you can use a large, serrated knife instead.
• Add a generous smear of icing to the centre of your serving plate/board, then stick the first layer of cake on top, making sure it is centred and level.
• Pipe rows of icing dollops all over the surface of the first cake layer, making sure the dollops around the perimeter of the cake are neat, as they will be on show.
• Carefully top with the second layer of cake, then repeat the icing process again. Make sure that all of the piping on this layer is neat, because this will be the top of the cake.
• Place the cake into the fridge to chill for 15-20 minutes, then arrange the edible flowers and orange peels all over the surface.
• The cake must be stored in the fridge until you are ready to serve it. As long as the cream/yoghurt were well within their use-by date, it will last for 2-3 days.

Notes

1. I use this tin from Silverwood.
2. My recipe for DIY Cake Release is absolutely essential for this recipe, because the cake batter is very prone to sticking to the tins.
3. Make sure to use a Greek yoghurt that has a fat content of 10%: this will make for a perfectly thick, creamy and stable icing.
4. I used a selection of pressed, edible flowers from Nurtured in Norfolk.
5. You can find my recipe for Homemade Candied Orange Peels here.